"W-what are you doing?"

The ghost lady watched as he sat down in the leaf pile, holding his notebook underneath the sparkling stone. It was just shiny enough to reflect what little light was in the Ruins, illuminating the area around it, which Mettaton quite readily took to his advantage.

"Recording my progress, darling," he replied, as if it were obvious.

The ghost lady took a moment to examine the stone before sitting down next to him, her eyes gazing over to the cursive he was scribbling along the lined paper.

"-Fell down a hole

-Died

-Woke up as a robot

-Met weird fish thing

-Weird fish thing died from nice human

-Human's named Chara

-Chara acts tough, but they're really a sweetheart

-Dummies fly?

-Led me through some puzzles

-Puzzles are really easy

-Something about being the oldest one to fall since...wouldn't say when

-There are other humans?

-Monsters don't hurt - do not FIGHT

-Chara's house at the end of the Ruins

-Spike puzzles…"

When he finished, the robot glanced up, pushing a finger along the bridge of his nose to readjust his cloudy glasses, to which the lizard lady gasped upon seeing.

"I-is your eyesight that b-bad?" she stuttered out, leaning toward him and reaching out for the lenses. "I-I'm sorry, I thought I made your eyes o-oka-"

"I'm fine, dear," he replied, sticking the pencil in the boot that lacked a glasses case and stood, then turned to her with a smile. "The eyes are fine. I just had these when I was alive and would rather keep them."

There was a small pause between them, one still smiling at the other, after which the robot's smile dropped to a neutral position and he continued with, "...wait, you made me?"

"O-oh!" the ghost nodded rather quickly, her hands clasped together as she shifted from one foot to the next. "Y-yeah, I...I saw that your SOUL refused to accept your death so I, uh…"

"Darling, that's incredible!" Mettaton exclaimed as he examined himself once more, first starting with the arms and then moving to his torso, still going down the neo-body further.

The lizard woman shifted a bit more. Her cheeks lit up like a Christmas tree and her eyes trailed down with Mettaton's, but there was a smile present. "Y-you think so?"

"Of course! Where on Earth did you get the materials for it?"

"W-well, I, uh…" Oh, there's the smile drop. Yup. No more happy face. "...I-I don't think you wanna know…"

"Oh, come on now. Of course I want to know! It can't be that bad, can it?"

"W-well, I…" Alphys turned her attention back towards the ground, feet point inward. "I-I, um, f-found some parts around the Ruins…"

This made the robot's face glisten just a bit, a broad smile coming over his face once more as he clapped his hands together. "Oh my goodness! Not only did you build a fully-functioning robot, but you built one out of scraps you just found ar-!?"

Mettaton froze.

She...made him out of scrap metal lying around the Ruins.

His entire body...was composed of pieces of junk found God knows where.

Oh...okay...that's...ew...

The ghost winced upon seeing what a disgusted expression her friend took on, chuckling nervously when he furthered grimaced.

"I...I-I t-told you you d-didn't want to...t-to know…" she stuttered, taking a small step back. Oh, he was going to be so upset with her now! And this was her one chance to actually talk to someone…

It would take a moment or so to regain himself, but eventually, the robot nodded, slowly, clutching his notebook tightly to his chest. "I'll...pretend I didn't hear that."

This caused the ghost to blink. "R-really? You'll...you'll just...y-you'll still talk to me?"

"But of course, darling," our protagonist continued, gradually returning to his former self. "Why wouldn't I? You gave me a body, after all. Don't you realize how thankful I am for that?"

"Oh! I-I, uh…"

"Dear." Mettaton placed a metallic finger against the dinosaur's nose, despite it simply phasing through. Right...he'll have to get used to that. "I am thankful to have you as a conversational partner. It'll at least keep me sane in this god-awful place…" (though that last sentence was more muttered than anything) "...However, unless you want me to refer to you as 'darling' and 'dear' for the rest of the time, it might be a good idea to spill your name."

"A-Alphys!" the dinosaur stuttered out, fidgeting with her shirt nervously. Oh, gee, someone was actually t-talking to her! Most people were kind of...scary, but it seemed like someone else who experienced death at least somewhat understood her, for whatever little sense that made. The most important thing was that he didn't know about...things, and he hopefully wouldn't be asking about them any time soon.

"Alphys?" Mettaton repeated with a clap of his hands. "Oh, what a wonderful name! Alphys. I like it! You and I, Alphys- we're going to make it far in these Ruins!"

When he attempted to wrap an arm around her shoulders and failed, though still acted as if he had succeeded anyway, Alphys couldn't help but chuckle (and this time, it was out of joy). "You know, there's m-more down here than just the Ruins."

"Really?"

It was at that point that he turned to face her, and she could practically see the stars in his eyes. It was actually rather...endearing? Something she certainly hadn't seen in a long time, well before her untimely departure. So, her reply was with a smile. "Y-yeah. There's, um, Snowdin...and Waterfall...a-and Hotlands, w-with my lab…"

"Your lab?" Mettaton, who had just begun walking, paused, turning back to face the ghost. "Wait, are you a scientist?"

She chuckled. "Th-that's a really vague term, uh...I'm a mechanic, a-and a chemist, and-"

"So a scientist," he finished for her, to which she sighed and hurried to catch up to the robot that had once more began picking up his pace.

"Yes, a scientist…"

The two started their stroll in silence, each thinking of a good conversation topic. For Mettaton, there were simply too many questions swirling about in his head to really pick out a good one. Besides, he'd just met this ghost. She seemed nice, sure, but he had only just met her, after all. This was a very new situation he had just been thrust into, and he had to pick what was said lightly.

Alphys, on the other hand, did not have the issue of too many questions. Sure, she was curious about life, the Underground...she probably could pick out some topics if she liked (things such as human culture, past times, etc.), so it wasn't lack of words, either, but more of indecisiveness upon which exact ones she should use. See, Alphys...contrary to her robot friend, Alphys wasn't anywhere near as good at speaking with others, or words in general. If you needed more proof than her absent voice and the would-be clammy hands (had she been alive), just look at her stuttering.

Eventually, though, one of them did start up a conversation, and he turned back to face the scientist with a rather neutral expression. "Alphys?"

"Yeah?"

"You built this body, right? The entire thing from scratch, just you?"

Hesitantly, the woman gave a small nod, her hands rubbing together anxiously as she watched her robot companion tread across the leaves. It was somewhat...interesting watching him fall through the floor with his dramatic flailing and girly screams, but she was still glad he didn't get hurt.

"Then, tell me," he continued, now making his way for the stairs, "Why did you make it a male body?"

She blinked a few times, her face changing from slight worry to mild surprise as her eyes locked onto the robot in a stare. "W-what?"

"The body. You made it from scratch, right? No mold or anything? So why a guy's?"

Alphys blinked a few more times and quickly darted her orangish-brown eyes away from him, towards the next room. "I-I'm sorry, I thought you wanted the sex your human body had...I tried to keep it as close to the original as possible so I'm sorry if there's anything really wrong with it or stuff you don't...don't like. I-I...You wouldn't come out of your b-body, so I had no way of t-talking to you-"

When he noticed that she had begun to ramble, Mettaton quickly cut the woman off, offering her a wide smile and cheerful eyes as encouragement. "It's alright, Alphys! I'm not upset. I was just curious, that's all."

The woman paused. She opened her mouth to speak, however, was quickly cut off with the person who stepped in front of her companion, at which point she would shrink back out of sight.

"Who were you talking to?"

Despite not meeting all too long ago, Mettaton turned his head at the sound of the familiar voice, to which he smiled. What his eyes were met with was the sight of the figure from earlier. It's funny how the light someone's cast in makes all the difference on how they are perceived. When the pair had first met, this person seemed like a savior the way the sun (or what served as it) fell behind them, but now, stepping out from the shadows like someone who watches you sleep at night, the robot couldn't help but take a small step back from his friend. The sharpness in their voice was not helping.

"I was just talking to Alphy-" He cut himself off when his glance back proved fruitless. All either of the two of them observed was empty air, and Chara had raised an eyebrow at him when this had been realized.

Because of this, our protagonist was then forced to turn back to Chara with a look of confusion washed over his face, mixed in with just a glint of worry. "I swear, someone had been with me this entire time. She was right here…"

"Look." This was the point where the human would step in front of the robot, just close enough to reach out their hand and touch him should they so chose. "I don't know how you know Alphys, but she disappeared a while ago. No one's seen her in a long time, and I mean a long time. Out of all the places she could've vanished to, I highly doubt the Ruins would be her first priority." After all, if she had ran away to here, Chara would have seen her.

"Disappeared?"

When Mettaton leaned forward slightly for an answer, Chara had felt a small heat cross over them and their cheeks brightened a shade or two in color. They shook it off. "That's not what I came here for. I, uh, forgot to ask you something."

"Oh?" Now the robot found himself straightening his shoulders and leaning back slightly out of curiosity. "Go on."

"What kinda chocolate do you like? Milk or dark?"

The robot blinked for a few moments, his magenta eyes widening as he cocked his head to the side. So they just wanted to know his preference on something? That was surprisingly...casual. "Chocolate? ...Do you have any white?"

"White chocolate?" This was the part where Chara lowered their head so that their bangs overshadowed their eyes. If Mettaton hadn't known otherwise (and he really didn't), he could've sworn that those eyes had shimmered a bright, demonic red, but Chara was human, and even down here, that seemed near impossible.

"Yes, white chocolate…" Was something wrong with that? His response was somewhat hesitant, and for good reason. He took a small step back from the human, who appeared to be frozen in place with...he wasn't sure what.

"White chocolate is not chocolate."

Chara's voice seemed rigid, heavy even. It would almost be enough to scare the robot away...had his favorite dessert not just been insulted. No, instead, his sassiness kicked in full swing, hand being pressed against his metal hip and leg jutting out to stable himself.

"Says who?"

Without moving, the living human continued on, their voice staying disturbingly even throughout dialogue. "White chocolate is made from milk, sugar, flavoring ingredients, and a by-product of the cocoa bean known as cocoa butter. It uses no actual cocoa bean solid, and therefore is not actual chocolate. I will repeat my question: milk or dark chocolate?"

At this point, our protagonist would whip his head to the side to readjust his bangs before running a metal hand through them. Any normal human would most likely back down at this point, but this was Mettaton. He wasn't going down without a fight, and if he did end up falling...hopefully Alphys added a self-destruct button.

"It doesn't matter what it's technically defined as. We're not living in a lab-" He paused for a moment, taking a quick glance around to see if Alphys had reformed- she had not- and continued. "-so what chocolate is "technically" defined as isn't important. It's called white chocolate for a reason and it should count as such! If you're not going to offer that as an option, then I choose none."

It felt like ages that the room was silent. Mettaton's SOUL quivered, but his body remained firm and determined. He would not take an insult lying down! Even if that insult was only to one of his most favorite foods...

Eventually, without looking up at the robot, Chara turned, their shoulders still held high and back straightened. There was a way that they stepped, though...slowly, carefully, that gave Mettaton the impression something was off. He could figure out that much already, but it was different now… It almost held the appearance that Chara had been defeated.

"Wait, darling, where are you going?"

He watched as they walked off without another word, continuing across a bridge that, once they stepped off on the other side, glinted from the spikes that had shot up behind them. Great...another puzzle. That should be fun.

"Alphys?" Mettaton called out, looking around for the one person down here he had yet to piss off. Maybe, just maybe, if he was lucky, the ghost could help him get over all of these stupid puzzles. There was always the option of taking notes, of course. Analyzing something and strategizing about it was always a great method of action, and it would allow Chara sometime away from him which, unfortunately, seemed to be necessary. Perhaps he should just do this on his own...

"Alphys?" Mettaton cried out into the dimly lit room, slowly pacing over to a grey rock to examine it. Hm...funny. He could have sworn that was on top of the button a few minutes ago…

"Th-three out of four rocks recommend you push them."

More comments to answer, because this is FanFiction and I have no way to answer them publicly .-.

illuminatemmie: Uh, just out of curiosity, what do you mean by "something like this"?

Yeah not many comments to answer, haha...but that's mostly because there's only seven reviews (one of which just says "More"...). Still, seven reviews for two chapters is pretty awesome!

Also, uh, there's a "master" list of UnderTale AUs on DeviantArt that mine just got added to, and I feel pretty happy about that.

journal/A-Guide-to-Undertale-AUs-582035769

Here, I really hope this link works. Stupid Fanfiction censor doesn't let me put the whole link, so just put that at the end of the DeviantArt URL or search for farsidejr. It should be one of their journal posts.

I think there's a master link on Tumblr, too, but I don't have much experience with tumblr and don't really know how to get on it...if some of you could help get this on official lists that would be awesome, haha!