For the best experience, I recommend listening to Home from the UnderTale OST and the music box version of Fallen Down by MerryBerryMusic while reading this chapter.
When Mettaton entered the room, the first thing his eyes caught a hold of was a large, black tree, its limbs branching out above it like a hand trying to grasp for something just out of reach. Surrounding the base of the tree were what he presumed to be its fallen leaves, a crisp red to match the rest of the ones he'd stumbled upon on his way here. He held his gaze there for a moment or so to take in the detail of what stood in the center of his path. This was different than just some measly leaves. For the first time, he found the plant life from which they had strayed. In fact, with further thought, this was the only tree Mettaton had seen period within the Ruins. Could all of those leaves had really fallen from a single tree? Where was the wind that carried them? They seemed like pointless questions but his mind couldn't help but wonder…
His focus was redirected when our protagonist heard a voice from around the black trunk. It sounded somewhat familiar and urged him to hurry forward.
"He sure is taking a while," the voice mumbled. Mettaton peered out around the tree and smiled when he caught sight of a figure just about his height with a long green robe and a single yellow stripe, the owner of which let out a small sigh. "Maybe I shouldn't have gotten upset…"
They reached inside their robe's pockets and pulled out a small candy bar, unwrapped the goods and popped it in their mouth before taking a quick glance over at the doorway. The robot reflexively ducked behind the bark and out of sight, though not without reasoning to himself why. He wasn't irrational, after all. This wasn't like at home. He didn't have to hide when someone looked at him.
"Maybe I should go back and check…"
Though, when the protagonist lept into sight, Chara's eyes widened. They jumped backward while taking a large gulp of air, thus breathing in a small piece of the chocolate and coughing once or twice in surprise.
"Sorry, darling. I couldn't help but overhear that you missed me."
It would take another minute or so, but eventually the living teen regained themself, and they looked back at Mettaton with an expression of annoyance. "You can't just leap out in front of me like that! And I told you not to call me dar-" They froze. It might have been a bit funny had Mettaton known what was going off inside Chara's head, but he didn't, so he could only watch in confusion as the human's face took on a more fearful tone. It was quite evident that they weren't going to wholly express this, but there was still that slight glint of paranoia in their neutrally-shocked look. "...how long were you standing there?"
"Me? Well, I just arrived."
"Okay. Yeah. But how much did you hear?"
Mettaton blinked. "Just that you feel a bit guilty for what happened earlier. And don't worry, Chara. I accept your apology."
"I didn't-" They shook their head. "Okay, but you didn't hear me say anything about…?"
Judging by the blank look they were receiving, Chara assumed that what they'd rather not repeat in front of the robot had infact not been heard. This was followed by a very small breath of relief, to which they placed a hand over their chest. "Never mind. ...Are you okay? You look a bit scuffed up."
The robot took a quick glance down at his arms, which held a few cuts, as well as some scorch marks. If those were the results of some fire passing him, he wasn't sure he wanted to see the burn his cheek had obtained. "I guess I could be better…"
"Who did this to you?" Chara reached their hand out to grab a hold of Mettaton's arm, bringing it up closer to their face to examine it. "I'm sure they didn't mean it. We can talk to them later. For now, lemme show you my house."
They then turned, eyes focused on a structure just a few yards ahead of them that reminded the purple SOUL of a small, dark castle from the Medieval era. Little windows, composed of bricks...very much built for defensive purposes. Medieval ages weren't exactly his favorite time period to study, but he did remember a little bit about them. There were more leaves piled around the front, directly underneath the two small windows that could be seen. He couldn't remember if plants were something common to medieval castles.
"You live here?" the robot asked, his eyes scanning over the scene with intense curiosity while noting several things about the place, especially another shimmering rock off to the left that he could probably jot some things down under.
Chara simply nodded as they led him past the rock, the leaves, the windows, and through the door, into a quieter, more peaceful atmosphere than the decrepit Ruins that lie behind them. The home looked relatively normal, with wooden floors, creamish-beige walls, a stairwell just opposite the door that Mettaton could only assume lead to the basement. Two hallways branched out on either side of them, and this room in particular seemed rather bare. Honestly, it wasn't what Mettaton would describe as his dream house, but it was definitely giving off the "Home" vibe.
"About that "discussion" from earlier," Chara said as they turned around, leaning back against the railing and watching Mettaton observe the room.
"The chocolate?" He tilted his head, eyes centering back on the person in front of him. "Yes, what about it?"
They took a quick glance down the hall to the left (or, rather, their right), specifically toward the kitchen area, though it was still out of sight from this angle. "I asked for a reason. While you were taking forever to get here, I decided to make a cake. Y'know. Celebrate your arrival."
Really? Chara had made a cake, just for him? Mettaton's face brightened with delight as the image of such a thing popped inside his head. "Oh, thank you, darling! That's so nice of you."
This was in turn answered with a small chuckle and a nod. "Yeah. I want you to have a good time. So I'll hold off on the snail pie for tonight."
When that face turned from one of excitement to disgust, Chara's chuckle grew into a laugh and they placed both hands on their knees to steady themself. "Relax! It's a joke. I only make those for Mom, even though she can't eat them now." Something about ghost food… Chara wasn't sure how to make that.
"Why would she ever want to?" Snail pie? That just sounded disgusting.
The human shrugged. "Heck if I know. Probably a goat thing."
"Goat thing?"
This was then met with a shake of the head. "I wanna show you something." They leaned back onto their feet and headed off for the hall opposite of where they had been looking before, a slightly confused robot following in tow. However, that didn't last long. The house's owner seemed to stop shortly after entering the hall, now standing in front of a door beside a few plants and a wall lamp. There was also a mirror off to the side, which Mettaton made sure to check later. He hadn't gotten a chance to see himself in his new body yet, after all. It was practically killing him!
"Eh… What exactly is this?" Mettaton asked with a raised eyebrow. It just looked like a door. Chara was quite obviously referring to what was behind the door, but he'd still like to be prepared. You can't just show Mettaton a door and say, 'Surprise! Hope you like it!'
"It's your room," they replied before giving him a rather powerful pat on the back, one or two strong enough to actually make him stumble forward (not to mention the fact that the Chara's blush had returned as they spoke). "A room all your own. It's getting late. You'll be wanting a place to stay. You can stay here as long as you want…" Hopefully a while… Maybe they could be roommates, or even more...friends? Closer? It would be nice for Chara to finally have a family again…
"I guess I could use a little sleep." Mettaton honestly wasn't sure this body even needed it. Wasn't there a plug or something? All those scifi movies he watched always showed the robots having to recharge for their sleep. Maybe Alphys found a way around that...he could hope.
Chara turned to face him, a warm, longing look in their eyes that both allowed their friend to relax a little with the atmosphere and put him slightly on edge. It was certainly not something our protagonist had been expecting, but surely there was no harm meant by it. He was about to reach for the handle, but then paused, instead poking his nose a little bit in the air. "...Do you smell that?"
"Smell wha-?"
It was but a second later that Chara froze. A smokey feeling entered their nose and their eyes widened, attention shooting over in the direction of the kitchen. "I'll be back." Though they hurried off rather hastily, leaving Mettaton alone before he could even ask what was wrong.
With a small sigh, the robot shook his head, watching his friend hurry off to presumably take care of the burning smell. He might be a bit lost with what all was going on (maybe this was all a dream), but it was certainly nice here. Chara even had a room prepared for him! Maybe he could stay here for a while. He'd need to redecorate, that went without saying, but it was at least a start.
Inside said room wasn't much different from the rest of the home's theme. There was a single bed off to the far right wall, just beside a closet, a lamp, a couple dusty stuffed animals… A drawing of a flower hung along the farthest wall. It seemed to be drawn by an eight-year-old, which, surprisingly, fit well with the rest of the room. Underneath such a picture was some small chest. Upon closer inspection, a plastic padlock held the lid shut. He wasn't sure if that was for play or honestly supposed to be kept secret, but whichever it was, it didn't seem like there'd be too much of an issue getting it open. Everything was laced in a warm, welcoming, burgundy color.
Beside the chest and the flower was a desk. Now, the desk was fairly cluttered with random crap, however, what grabbed Mettaton's eye was the photo frame that lied on top of it. He carefully stepped toward the frame, reaching an arm out to gently grab hold of it and graced his fingers along the dusty edges. He didn't seem to recognize who was inside… Some monster family, quite obviously, considering they looked like three furry humans with horns and-
Goats. They looked like goats.
There was a father (and quite obviously the father), equipped with a long purple robe and beard. Beside him, the mother stood. She wore a dress with an insignia on it similar to that of the one on Toriel. Her hand was extended out toward her son, a small, literal kid in front of the two of them. Each held a crown on top of their heads, the mother and father bearing a golden one with several jewels while the child had on a flower crown and a playful smile.
When Chara said something about snails being a "goat thing," could they have meant…?
He shook his head, setting the picture down for now and glancing over at the bed. Chara was right. He didn't know what time of day it was, but it felt late. His body was actually starting to get exhausted, and Mettaton could only hope that a good night's rest would cure that.
Slowly, he crept over to the bed, pulling the blanket over himself and resting his head against the pillow. At first, he couldn't help but stare at the ceiling as thoughts swirled around in his mind. If this was a dream, would falling asleep wake him up? What if he woke up, but everything was the same? What if he didn't wake up at all?
That's a silly thought, was one of Mettaton's final remarks before forcing his eyes shut. Of course you're going to wake up. Whether or not that's in your own bed… There's only one way to find out. For now, you get your beauty rest. Maybe this is all just a crazy dream.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the bedroom door creak open, the figure standing inside it quietly shuffling over to the spot in the center of the room, close to Mettaton's bed. They bent down to place a paper plate of dessert on top of the rug, far enough away so that the robot wouldn't squish it the moment he stepped out of bed. They then turned to face what they assumed to be said sleeping robot, a very small smile on their face as they watched him rest.
"Sweet dreams," Chara whispered before quickly dashing out the door and down to their own room.
A couple announcements before I answer reviews.
I have officially started posting EquationTale art! So far it's only a reference sheet for Chara and Mettaton...I admit I'm not the best artist in the world, but I'm going to try! If you want to take a look at that, either hop on over to the EquationTale Tumblr (seriously the URL is just "equationtale dot tumblr dot com"), or go follow my DeviantArt, KuraiTsukiMajutsu (preferably the first option). If you have any questions, feel free to ask on the tumblr! Chara will be answering them for now unless you specifically ask another character (heh...character). Some I may reply with art, some with just a text answer. Please bare with me, especially with my birthday and school right around the corner.
I have a question. This is completely random, but if there was an UnderTale AU where all the characters were YouTubers (yes, I am making a list), would Azzman or SomeOrdinaryGamer be better for Grillby?
Reviews! Thank you guys so much! You don't know how much I love reading your reviews and how DETERMINED they make me! The more, the merrier! You guys know you can make them without an account too, right? I appreciate each and every one of them, so please, feel free to leave as many as you like!
Aria Tavoosi: I'm not sure about Mettaton's other forms yet. Frisk doesn't have a place in the cannon game where they change shape or even outfits, so I don't know where I'd work in a NEO or box form. If there is a point at which I can work those in, then I will certainly try, but as of right now, I see no such thing happening. As for the Alphys thing, what do you mean by "too shy"? If it's because she disappears when others see her, I have a reason for that. After all, she had to die somehow.
If it's something else...that might be good to know.
To all of you saying you like this story: Answering them all separately seems a bit pointless...because I'm going to thank all of you! You guys are the whole reason I even write! Since I loose motivation easily...so thank you!