The simplistic urn containing Alphys's remains were given to Mettaton without question, to do her final rites as he saw fit. It would've been given to him anyway, king or not, he was her only relative anyone knew of. She never talked about any parents or siblings, or even extended family. It was...just him, really. And not a lot of people even knew she was his adoptive mother, just that they were close.

Mettaton had chosen not to wear his regalia for this trip, and had told - more ordered - the guards to stay at the castle. To leave him alone and let him do this on his own. With the white glass container tucked securely under his arm, Mettaton stared up at the large building he had called home for the past few years. Lowering his head with a heavy sigh, he punched in the code to the doorlock, the old mechanisms squeaking as they slid open.

The inside of the lab was pitch black, causing Mettaton to huff in exasperation. They couldn't have left a light on for him, huh? No matter, Mettaton turned the his eye to full brights to give him a kind of flashlight, sliding his hand against the wall as he walked inside. First things first, find a light switch. The task didn't take him long, he knew the place very well. Continuing to slide his hand along the wall until he felt the familiar shape of a switch, he flicked it on, pulling his hand away to watch the bright fluorescents spring to life. The lights revealed the lab hadn't changed at all, he couldn't decide if that made things more or less eerie. Paperwork scattered just the same as they were the last time he'd been in here, dirty dishes and empty containers of microwave food stacked up on desks and around computers. It was as if no time had passed at all...

Well, more like if no monster had passed at all.

Mettaton did have to give credit where credit was due, however; the Royal Guard had followed his instructions to not touch the place to a T. Most people would go against that kind of command and at least tidy up the place to "be nice :)", even if it was never wanted nor asked for. If the lab had been spotless, he didn't think he'd have the nerves to even come in here. It would've felt too wrong, it would've been too obvious something was off.

Shifting the urn, Mettaton held it to his chest like he was cradling a child now that he was alone, with no one to give him pitied glances and empty words of reassurance that it'll be okay or I'm sorry this happened. The hollow words of encouragement were useless to him, it was the standard greeting to someone who'd just suffered a loss. You said it because you were supposed to, not because you meant it. The note hadn't been shown to anyone besides himself, in fact it was still tucked away in his pocket. But monsters loved gossip, there wasn't much else to do down here, and word spread quickly. He was glad the dogs had enough respect to keep the exact details of that note to themselves.

"Oh...Alphie, Alphie, Alphie…" Mettaton mumbled, staring at the urn and leaning his back up against the wall. A miserable hiccuping noise escaped his chest, and he brought an arm up to rub against his face.

No, no, he couldn't just sit on the floor and cry, as much as he very much wanted to. He'd come here for a reason. He pushed himself off the wall, and wrapped his arms back around the urn, refusing to put it down as he walked further around the lab.

Now that he'd been in here for more than three minutes, he had decided the sameness was eerie after all. So unchanged the lab was he half expected the little lizard woman to come waddling out from her room upstairs with a half eaten ramen cup in her paw, surprised to see him home and not at the castle doing the whole ruling the Underground thing. A part of Mettaton hoped that would happen, and that this was all some horrible misunderstanding, it wasn't actually Alphys who wrote that note, and the dust had been misidentified.

...He had been told one of the stages of grief was denial.

In Mettaton's mind, if he found the place exactly where she'd done it, perhaps it'd give him more closure than to just be told about it, and cease the doubt that sought to ruin him that he was being lied to. Dogaressa had mentioned something about the downstairs lab, so he figured that would be a good place to start. Searching around the floor he was currently on, he looked into every place he could think of for...well, he wasn't sure what he was looking for. A noose? A weapon? Leftover dust? He figured he'd know it when he saw it. When he didn't find anything, he had to wonder what the big deal they were making about the downstairs lab was. Scrunching up his face in a scowl, he marched to the stairs.

Fine! He'd check upstairs then.

Once up to the second floor, first he checked the little work area, slowing down at the table where his blueprints were spread, and some spare robot parts. He made a mental note of those, they were probably something he should bring back with him. But, there were no signs of a tragedy here, so he continued to the next places he could think of. Alphys's bedroom, then the spare room that had been used for storage, and then even the room that held the serverboxes for the Undernet. His hand hovered over the glittery pink doorknob of his own bedroom, hesitating on going inside...

No, she wouldn't have done it in there.

He moved on.

It seemed no matter where he looked, there just wasn't anything. Gnawing his lip as he did another round of the second floor, going back to circle the first floor, upstairs again, and back down just to triple check. Pastel pink steam started to billow out of his cheek vents as he gnawed his lip so hard his fang nearly tore a hole in the silicone, flicking his head back and forth frantically.

"God fucking-" His fist clenched so hard his knuckles creaked in strain, "DAMMIT." His fist collided against the wall, the metal letting out a loud rattle that muffled Mettaton's heavy breathing as he braced his arm against it.

"I-If those dogs," a loud sniffle and a hiccup broke his angry tone of voice, knees wobbling as he started to slide down the wall. "T-touched...her…"

The urn rolled away a short distance as he pulled his legs to his chest, coiling his arms multiple times around his body, burying his face into his knees and finally breaking down into the sobbing he'd been holding back on this whole time.

" Al-Alph-hhhys- " he choked and whined, claws clicking out of his fingertips and digging into his sides as he squeezed himself tighter. " I-I'm s-so sor-*hic*s-sorry-"

Here, in the empty lab. Mettaton finally lost it, bawling so loud he was glad nobody was around to hear it. Uncharacteristic ugly noises escaping his chassis as he just - let himself cry, for once. He lifted his head out of his knees, snuffling and tilting his head back against the wall. Sending himself into a hiccuping fit as he tried to force himself back into calmness. Loosening his grip on himself, he tried to scrub some of the tears off his face with the heel of his palm, only serving to upset himself more when he saw the smeared makeup stains left behind on his glove. Making another pathetic whining noise, he was ready to curl back up and cry for about the next hundred years when he noticed something different about the room, and the shock of it made him cease crying for a second.

"Oh my god, you didn't …" Mettaton whispered, pushing himself off the ground and stumbling to the door he'd knocked open with his tantrum. The entrance to the one place he hadn't checked. The gaping blackness of the elevator sat undisturbed, waiting for him.

Mettaton knew about the True Lab, and he knew what was down there. He'd never been allowed down there too often, and never on his own. Strictly off limits, Alphys said. Mettaton let her keep her privacy, and never pushed. That place kind of creeped him out anyways. When the dogs said the downstairs lab, he hadn't even considered. Actually, he wondered how they even found the place, or why he didn't make the connection in the first place when they talked of finding something.

Alphys really didn't want to be found, huh?

Mettaton looked toward the urn that had been left lying on the floor, giving it a sad smile and shaking his head. "Tsk tsk Alphie, couldn't have made things easy on me, now could you?"

Well, the True Lab was definitely as dark and depressing as he'd remembered it. It spooked him out, to be quite honest, with all it's decrepit machinery and abandoned projects. Screens on a motion sensor flickered to life as he passed by, but they were of no interest to him. He was a man on a mission, and didn't have time to raid Alphys's diary. The True Lab was expansive, and Mettaton had all the time in the world if he wanted to. But he already knew exactly where he was going to check first. Now, if he was going to find somewhere to hang himself, what kind of room would he do it in…? Mettaton marched down a short hall, and ripped aside a faded pink shower curtain.

And, his intuition paid off, there it was. Obvious signs that something terrible had happened here, the shower head bent considerably where something heavy had been tied to it, the dogs had probably gotten rid of the rope, there was an obvious space in the bottom of tub that was much cleaner than the rest of it's grimy surroundings.

Mettaton's shoulders fell, "I...I guess they weren't lying to me after all, were they, Alphie?"

Turning his head, he saw that folded up neatly and placed on a nearby sink was a wrinkled, stained labcoat. Mettaton let the curtain fall from his fingertips, once more obscuring the remnants of a horror show, moving to hover over the messy labcoat on the sink. God, she never did wash her clothes, did she? Sweat stains, food stains, the ends looked trampled from how much it dragged the ground behind her. It was just…

So her.

So much like her.

His fingers curled around the article of clothing reverently, bringing it to his chest as he sank to the ground again, bracing his back against the wall. Eyes falling shut and letting out a long sigh as he hugged it. It wasn't much different than the one he had given to the Royal Guard to find her with, but, she'd died in this one. And that's what made it uh...honestly? More morbid. Mettaton would've probably been better off digging out one from her drawers upstairs, a cleaner, not died in one, for a keepsake. But he didn't want one of those ones, he wanted this one.

He balled his fists up in it, and brought it up to his face, nuzzling into it and sighing again. Somehow, he didn't feel like crying. Somehow he was calmer now than he had been upstairs, having a meltdown on the floor because he couldn't find what he wanted to. Perhaps having something to cling to that wasn't just a jar of dust was more cathartic.

Speaking of which, he still needed to spread that...He'd…

Mettaton lowered himself more onto the floor, laying on his side, cuddling the lab coat and pressing his cheek against it.

..He'd get to it…

Mettaton laid there for, oh...well, he wasn't really keeping track of the time. He'd turned off his chronometer, his head was empty, and he'd disabled his communication HUD before leaving the castle, not wanting to be bothered. Leaving him in calm silence, the only noise being the ambient hum of machinery and the quiet whirring of his internals. Hey, would you look at that! Laying on the ground and feeling like garbage, god, how long had it been since he'd done that? Man, he should probably visit Napstablook sometime, now with the whole king thing.

...He'd...

...Get to it...

Mettaton closed his eyes, shifting a little to get more comfortable, he probably would've fallen asleep here. Actually, that didn't sound like a bad idea, didn't seem bad at all until he felt a shift in the room. Quiet, odd footsteps approaching him, a large shadow falling over his body. Mettaton opened his good eye again, rolling it up to see a giant eye staring back at him and making the quiet coos of a dove. Beak clicking open and shut as the skinny bird amalgamate twisted it's odd, flat head to and fro to examine him. Once more that guttural coo escaping its mouth. It seemed like it was...concerned.

Mettaton pushed himself back into a sitting position, the Reaper Bird backing up, shuffling its feet together and arching it's back to give him space. Tilting its head this way and that, it's long neck moved to rest it's forehead under the robot's chin, repeating it's cooing. Ah, it was trying to comfort him. Mettaton couldn't help but smile some, it was such a sweet gesture he didn't care at all about the white goop drooling onto his lap.

"Thank you, love. I'm - I'll be fine." Mettaton mumbled, pressing a quick kiss to the bird-like amalgamate's head as it continued its odd embrace.

The Reaper Bird chirred, beak clicking at a rapid pace to enunciate the noise, pulling it's head away completely for a moment. It opened it's jaws to let garbled mess of words tumbling out of it as it gave Mettaton an attempted gentle glance, eye squinting sideways. Mettaton just smiled and nodded, pretending he understood what any of them were saying. It's mouth closed again, and it stood up, pacing around the robot for a moment before settling down at his side. Legs folding under it, three times before it could sit like a proper bird in its nest. One of it's featherless wings opening up and folding over the shoulder of the superstar turned king, tucking him against his skinny chest.

Seems he wasn't the only one mourning.

As much as Mettaton could've stayed down there forever, a king has his duties. And a king can't sit in the dark with his weird friends in his mom's basement for all eternity.

Mettaton unscrewed the lid of the urn, and looked at the shelf in front of him.

"Dear, I wish you had something more poetic as a favorite object than...anime toys…." he said with a small chuckle, grabbing a small handful of dust and spreading it evenly amongst the shelves of brightly colored figurines. "It's just so cheesy and dorky."

He paused as he reached for another handful.

"...I guess it is pretty fitting then, hm?"

He paused as he got to the top shelf, picking up one of the figurines and turning it over in his hand. Mettaton recognized the cat-eared pink girl, he recalled this character being Alphys's favorite. Mettaton brushed his thumb across it, pondering for a moment.

She wouldn't miss one, would she?

Mettaton put the figure aside in the box of stuff he was bringing back to the castle, spreading the remaining dust across the top shelf. He screwed the lid back on the now empty urn, and placed it on the work desk near by. Mettaton had just fished a cardboard box from under a computer, formerly filled with some paperwork he didn't think would be too important in the afterlife. Aside from that little keepsake, he'd grabbed his blueprints, and a majority of the spare parts to his body. Even the eye that was meant to go on the other half of his face, before they'd figured out injuries carry over into corporeality, and that he'd be half-blind forever due to whatever caused a ghost to lose an eye. Maybe it'd come in handy one day, who knows? As for the lab coat from below, he'd decided to loop it loosely around his shoulders, keeping it close for now.

Hmm..what hadn't he checked? Mettaton glanced down the hall, pressing his fist to his lips. The bright pink door among the monochrome clean colors of the hall beckoned to him. He had decided to himself he wanted to leave his old room as it was, just in case he ever wanted to come back here for some reason. Perhaps the castle bed didn't feel right, or maybe he just wanted to sleep somewhere quiet and where nobody could find him until he wanted to be found. Or maybe if he wanted to pretend things were fine, that Alphys was stuck in her bedroom on a binge of a new disc set she'd found in Waterfall. And that Asgore was still the king, and he had to be on set in the morning.

But, it probably wouldn't hurt to do a quick once over to make absolute sure there was nothing he wanted to bring back to the castle. Leaving the box behind, Mettaton made his way down the hallway, and turned the glittery doorknob.

His bedroom felt darker than it was supposed to be, but that could just be due to the star shaped fairy lights strung around his bed being mostly burnt out. Mettaton felt around for the switch, and the pink fluffy room was filled with brightness. The room looked as if it should belong to a spoiled brat of a little girl, with all the pink and frills and bed full of stuffies. But, little girls didn't typically have a gilded liquor cabinet in the corner and a vanity desk where pink and black paint were part of its arsenal.

Mettaton took a few steps into the room, placing his hands on his hips as he scanned it, and made a small list in his head. There was plenty of alcohol back in the castle, makeup was easy to replace, he kind of wanted to keep his plushies here. He felt like he'd be stripping more life than had already been taken if he brought them back. His eyes landed on a shelf, filled with more stuffed toys; one in particular stood out to him, not just because it wasn't pink.

He smiled to himself and stepped closer to it, picking up the large plush about the size of a toddler and examining it. This one was special, he remembered. A yellow dinosaur with a blue bow around its neck. Mettaton had found it while helping Alphys dig for spare parts that may have fallen from the Surface. He'd picked it up and laughed at how much it looked like Alphys, showing it off to her so she could she. Ended up taking it home and fixing it up, the bow around it's neck being Mettaton's enhancement. It was mostly to tease her, as he'd always chattered about how stunning blue would look on her. Alphys would always retort asking who she would be wearing it for, and Mettaton would coo back about Undyne.

"My, darling! I said blue, not beet red!"

Undyne...she was gone too, huh?

Mettaton's small grin fell, it probably wasn't his place to do the last rites for her as well, if her dust was recovered. He hadn't known her as well as say, Papyrus...

Was he going to tell Papyrus? Sans was so insistent on telling him Undyne was "on vacation", as if he'd known all along. Honestly Mettaton found it a bit insulting that Sans coddled a grown adult like that but - hey, you know what? Mettaton would let someone else deal with that hurdle. Because Undyne wasn't his like Alphys had been his. Papyrus would find out in his own time, and he'd cope with it in his own ways.

Mettaton looked back down at the fluffed and primmed little Alphys copy, it's mismatched button eyes staring back at him. He sat down on the bed, placing the toy on his lap. The labcoat slid off his arms, and he wrapped it around the toy, pulling it's little arms through the sleeves and doing up its buttons.

"There we go," Mettaton whispered, pulling his hands away and twisting them as if to present himself with his minimal handiwork. "Good as new~"

Mettaton wasn't bothered by any of the guards upon arriving back at the castle, bringing his box of belongings up to the royal chambers. The parts and blueprints he'd deliver to Sans when he felt like it, the little catgirl figurine was placed up on his shelf, and the dinosaur plush was tucked into bed lovingly. Mettaton was about to leave the room, but he paused, looking back at it…

And picked it back up, squeezing it to his chest and nuzzling his lips against it's soft head. A part of him wanted to bring it back to the throne room, as something to sit with him on the throne. He had wanted Alphys to help him rule, after all. But..it probably wouldn't be too good for his royal ratings to see the new king, one monsterkind was still forming an opinion on, coddling a stuffed toy on the throne. Mettaton pressed a parting kiss to the top of it's head as he pulled away, putting it back up under the covers. Fixing the blankets around it's little neck so it looked comfortable.

For real this time, Mettaton opened the doors to his bedroom, snatching the sleeve of the guard stationed in the hallway and dragging him into the room. Mettaton didn't let go of the Guard's robe, keeping his eyes toward the floor for a moment.

"Dogamy, hun...you...saw what was down there, didn't you?"

The dog monster didn't seem to follow, knitting his eyebrows in confusion. Mettaton didn't feel the need to elaborate. He didn't want to say what he was going to, but...it was the kindest thing to be done, no matter how wrong it felt.

"Put them out of their misery."