Even as she watched Mettaton complete the puzzle, Alphys still couldn't get over something that had been plaguing her mind since she heard it leave the rabbit's mouth.
"Boss's kid."
Last time she checked, Undyne didn't have a kid, and the way those rabbits were implying...she was pretty sure even if Undyne did, it certainly wouldn't be human. The only two humans she knew of were Frisk and Chara...the rest were dead. Even as she heard Mettaton say something to the energetic ball of fur about leaving her temmie flakes just for her, Alphys still couldn't stop thinking about it. Even after solving the puzzle and watching Mettaton let out a triumphant 'hmph,' she still couldn't manage to tear her attention away. Those bunnies were part of the Royal Guard, right? The outfit they were wearing looked like one of the options, even if it wasn't a suit of armor. She could've sworn they were a part of it...but Undyne didn't have kids.
Right?
She let out a small sigh as she stepped forward, attention only snapping back to the setting around her when Mettaton reached out for her arm and gave her a quick tug back to him.
Of course, it was understandable why. Looking up, Alphys would notice that she was five seconds away from walking straight into the strange, bipedal temmie, or, even worse, just going through her due to the scientist's ghostly form.
"Frisk haz stick colecshun!" the temmie exclaimed, thrusting her paws into the air with a wide smile.
Mettaton only nodded. How long had he been standing there, his partner wondered? Had she really been lost in her own thoughts for that long? Maybe she should pay more attention to Mettaton…
With a quick leap in the air, Temmie returned his nod even more enthusiastically. "Is really cute! They even decor8 da stiks sumtems! It gets glittur all over dough…"
"Uh, yes," Mettaton cut in, shifting his weight to one side. "What does this have to do with the puzzle…?"
Her eyes widened, while a quick gasp of air exited her mouth joyfully. "Oh, right! Da puzzle!"
She scurried off and planted her feet down just a few yards away, near another sign that Alphys would pursue.
*Turn every 'X' into an 'O', then press the switch.
Alphys's eyes glanced back at Mettaton, who was still in conversation with the tem. This was supposed to be a puzzle, but...it didn't really look like a puzzle from her perspective. Maybe she was missing something…
"OKEE! Soooo…"
The pair watched- one holding his eyebrow raised, the other squinting her wide eyes- as Temmie then lept over the sign like an acrobat, shoving her nuzzle into a large pile of snow and then pulling it back but a moment later.
"Dere's like...relly good news an relly bad news. Da good news is I gots da PUZZLE!1! Da bad news is I tried to move da puzzle an it kind of broke."
"It...broke." Mettaton stared down at the snow piled up against the floor like a sack of cold meat. There really wasn't much to describe. What looked like three poor excuses for snowmen(tems?) were stacked next to each other, each one toppling in some random direction. He wasn't entirely sure what it was supposed to look like not broken… Maybe "broken" wasn't the right word for it. "Uh huh."
Temmie stuck her tongue out as her blue orbs lulled into a cross-eyed expression after glancing about. They seemed to be focusing on her tongue(?). "Welp! Frisk isnt here sO im gonna try 2 do da puzzle. You do 2 w/o solushun okee?!"
Mettaton's eyebrows furrowed as his mouth gaped into an 'O' shape. Solution? To WHAT!?
He was soon snapped out of his thoughts by a furry paw slamming down against his metal lips, which caused him to blink in shock and he took a half-step back.
"What was that for?!" Mettaton exclaimed, his hands curling into tight fists as he heard the temmie before him giggle.
"U gots to turn da 'O' to an 'X'!"
Alphys didn't quite agree, but she wasn't about to open her mouth. She wasn't entirely sure that the sign was right, she was hoping that Temmie couldn't hear her, and there weren't any 'O's nearby...or 'X's...
"What 'O's?" Mettaton hissed. His eyes scampered around the cold ground, but all he saw were lumps of snow.
Temmie didn't respond, however. She made a quick leap over one of the piles, gasped, giggled, and then shoved her face into it.
After a moment of Alphys and Mettaton staring at this...odd behaviour, Mettaton began to pace towards her, but froze when she removed her head screaming, "I FOUND DA SOLUSHUN!1!111!"
They could only squint, one bringing his hand just above his eyes to make sure he was seeing everything. A question still plagued him (solution to...WHAT?), and he ground his foot into the floor impatiently, again watching as Temmie stuck her head into the pile of snow, this time raising it by bobbing her head and what followed was an accompanying 'click'. Her tail wagged as she backed into sight and leapt once in the air.
Behind her, a set of spikes fell, clearing the path ahead of them. Beyond that lied a small stone bridge, which, with how shaky it seemed, Mettaton wasn't so sure he wanted to test out.
"C'mon!" Temmie cried as she scampered forth. "Da next puzzle ahead! Banana split! Les blow dis popsikle stand! Kumquats I dunno!"
Mettaton didn't turn his head away from the fleeing tem, even as his companion shuffled up beside him, rubbing one hand over the other anxiously and looking up to Mettaton for any sort of guidance on the matter.
"W-well that just sort of...happened," she stuttered, shifting from one foot to the other repeatedly. "I-I mean...I-I didn't even participate in that…"
With a deep breath in, the robot closed his eyes, bringing one hand up to the bridge of his nose and pinching it to aid in getting rid of the pounding headache Temmie had caused. She was just so loud…and illogical...
"Alphys?" he asked without opening his eyes or removing his metal hand.
She blinked once, leaning in slightly and opening up her chest more as this was done. "Yes…?"
"How much longer do I have to put up with that thing?"
When she didn't answer immediately, the robot sighed. Of course. How could she know? It wasn't like this place had a preset path, and Alphys certainly wasn't all-knowing, despite how much it seemed that way. ...She wasn't all-knowing, right? Up until now, she'd known just about everything of the area around them, and was even able to warn him of the rabbits. Though that could easily be chocked up to the rabbits having a routine path…
"Alphys?" he asked, pausing, this time in a voice that held less aggression and much more curiosity than before.
It was enough to make her freeze and let out a small gulp. Alphys wasn't entirely sure why she was so nervous, but something in the way his tone changed so suddenly put her just the slightest bit on edge.
"Y-yeah?"
"How did you die?"
..Die? He...wanted to know how she died? That was a bit, um...random… Why did he want to know this, exactly?
Although the question seemed a bit out-of-the-blue, for Mettaton, it wasn't. That ghost all the way back in the Ruins gave off such a genuinely warm and friendly aura that he couldn't help but remember her baffled expression at hearing that Alphys was dead. Ever since falling down that hole, so much had happened to Mettaton, yet he barely knew anything about the history of this place. Why was this ghost even following him? Because she built him a body, and he wanted to customize it. But why go to that great of a length for someone you didn't even know? It seemed somewhat suspicious. Not that he was about to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but there was no point in blindly following her to possibly unpleasant scenarios either.
"Well…" Alphys brought her arms back up to her chest to cover herself, feeling one brush against the ghostly pen that rested in her shirt pocket but choosing to ignore it in favor of hunching over somewhat and looking down at the floor. "Um…"
The wind began to pick up around them. Though our protagonist wasn't sure from where, that wasn't the focal point of his attention. He stared down at the dead dinosaur with one hand on his hip, feet firmly spread out, while the other adjusted the area his indigo glasses rested at. The lenses glinted against what little light surrounded them, but he didn't mind.
"...I-I don't know if you'll want to h-hear it," she stuttered. The ghost took a few steps back, heading for the stone bridge that they were so close to, but stopped when she caught Mettaton crossing his arms.
"Alphys."
"heya."
Mettaton didn't even jump this time. He was starting to get used to hearing that voice when he least expected it, so turning around to see Frisk standing directly behind him wasn't much of a surprise, or at least not as much as it used to be.
"Hello, Frisk," he said with a small sigh. And right when they were in the middle of a serious conversation, too.
They chuckled, using one hand to pull down the purple scarf that wrapped around their neck, at least so that they could speak without having fuzzies fall in their mouth. One of the downsides to living in cold weather 24/7.
"nice puzzle-solving skills."
Mettaton then let out a growl and spun on his heel. "Frisk, I'm in a hurry. Is that all you wanted?"
"woah, woah." They held up their hands in surrender while half-trying to bite down the laughter building up in them. "it's chilly out, but your soul looks warm. no need to be cold hearted."
Once again, the former human merely rolled his eyes, beginning to pace further down the path. It was enough to make Frisk's smile return to their neutral expression, if only for a bit, before thoughts of their roommate and close friend flooded their mind, and they shifted their weight to one foot.
"Are you coming?" Mettaton hissed without bothering to look back as he continued on. Shame, really. Frisk much rather preferred to express themself through body language, such as a nod, a shrug, and taking a few steps forward.
Much to Mettaton's surprise, Frisk did, in fact, mimic those steps, and while Mettaton wasn't about to let something so small get the best of him, it was enough to make him pause.
"Are you coming?" the shorter repeated with their hands in their pockets as they strolled past the robot. Their attention was fixated straight ahead, and a smug smile made their way onto their face as they past, but still, Mettaton would not let that get the best of him! He kept up with Frisk quite easily, and the two continued on.
When they came to the top of the small stone bridge, the human came to a halt, peering over the edge for a brief moment to take in their surroundings. Cold air brushed against their face, effectively draining whatever color was left in it despite the human being used to the lack of warmth by now. Strange… Mettaton watched them lay their arms against the handrails and lean forward. There must have been something going on behind those brown eyes… He could tell. He was Mettaton, after all.
A silence hung over the pair after Mettaton had first decided to join Frisk, pressing his palms against the stone handrail and scanning over their setting himself. It was a long way down, that was for certain. The height made him somewhat uncomfortable, but he could handle it, at least for a little while. Beyond that, the snow fell softly against the ground, piling up against the older flakes with enough gentle grace to cause our protagonist's shoulders to fall. He forgot of how high up they were as he scanned the dead trees around them and couldn't help but get lost in thought. Where was he? Underground, yes, but where was he really? Mettaton might not seem that wise, but he certainly wasn't stupid. There wasn't weather underground. There wasn't winter or fall or spring...trees didn't grow, and there weren't any clouds to be dropping snow. So what was this place?
He was cut from his thoughts when a human-like voice beside him muttered, "so what's the surface like?"
This made him blink, and he glanced beside him at the shorter one. "...Excuse me?"
"what's the surface like?" they repeated. By now Frisk had swung their body weight around so that they were leaning more on one arm than the other, eyes centered on the robot beside them. "i haven't seen it in a while."
"Oh, uh…" His own magenta eyes narrowed down at the surface below them, once more forcing his stomach to grow unsettled, but the robot decided to ignore it. It wasn't as if he had any sort of bile in him, right? There shouldn't be much of an issue. "I suppose it's alright. We haven't gotten into war or anything."
They nodded, allowing the silence to linger once more in order to collect their thoughts. No wars, that's good… "what about the laws?"
"Hm?"
"my human pappa said it was illegal for gays to get married. it was illegal for people to do things to their own bodies. is that better now? I wouldn't want people to have a bad time."
Mettaton, surprised by the sudden shift in atmosphere, raised himself off of the handrail to turn to Frisk with an expression that mirrored a deer in headlights. He didn't follow politics all that much, but it seemed like something people would make a big deal over if something happened...right? It'd only make sense…
That being said, he still didn't have much prepared for an answer, so the robot simply let his jaw hang open while the empty air around them grew dense. How was he supposed to answer that? Yes? No? Maybe? Why do you care you're trapped underground with a bunch of furries you stupid weirdo? Despite how it may seem, Mettaton at least had some sort of charisma. Neither of those options seemed very optimal.
Of course, there were better answers than just standing there with your mouth open, which, once Frisk realized this, would simply wave their hand. "You don't have to answer that."
"Uh...okay?" Really, where did that even come from? It was just so...random. What brought it up? What made Frisk think of that of all things?
Calm down, Meckenzi...Mettaton. It's not important.
What was more important was the sudden exclamation of, "FRISK!" which was accompanied by both characters swiveling their heads around to locate the source. Mettaton moved one hand to its natural resting position on his hip and faced the target head-on, while the other beside him simply pushed themself up to stand straighter, palms still resting against the stone. Out of the corner of his eye, our protagonist could note his dinosaur companion balling up in a corner behind them, but he paid no mind to her. After all, she wasn't the one yelling as far as he could tell. No, he was pretty sure he knew full well who was calling, and seeing Frisk run off to its source sort of confirmed this.
The sight they were greeted with was a picture of Temmie, surrounded by various colored tiles and eyes trained on one particular piece in her hand. The tiles themselves looked more like puzzle pieces than anything, though that image might have sprung into his head due to the way Tem was childishly shoving them into each other to get them to fit.
It was enough to make Frisk chuckle, at least.
They approached their roommate with their hands in their pockets, leaning back slightly with their spine hunched an equal amount, shoulders slumped, like life was just strolling by. When they had reached the tem, the human bent their knees, lowering their already low-hanging head to get a better look at what their close friend was doing. She...wasn't exactly the brightest of monsters, Frisk would admit (to themself). Temmie could be up to any number of things and, quite frankly, it wouldn't surprise them.
"FRISK!" Tem exclaimed in aggravation. "DIS STUPID PUZZLE NUT WORKING!"
The human bit their lip in an attempt to keep the chuckle from resurfacing. They reached out for Temmie's paw, cradling it in their hand and whispering a small 'tisk, tisk' while running their eyes over the piece in her fuzzy palm.
"What are you trying to do?"
The temmie ripped her paw away in frustration, throwing the piece down against the cold snow and watching with small contentment as it clattered on the floor with a soft 'thump'. To Mettaton, it seemed like something that could have been ripped right off of him, what with the color and the wire parts protruding out of two sides. It was enough to make him step carefully while proceeding towards the pair, being sure to avoid any of the other matching parts strewn about at random.
"PaPyru sent tEM a puzzle! It wus spossed 2 stpo HOOMAN but is NOT WORKING!"
Mettaton watched with a raised eyebrow as the still-living human shook their head, amused smile plastered onto their otherwise expressionless face. Frisk seemed a lot more intelligent than the monster they were rooming with...why on Earth did they care for it? It was obviously just some unintelligent waste of life. The fact that they even bothered…
Frisk, this time, did let out a chuckle (though a very small one) as they took another nearby plate and held it up high enough that whatever miniscule amount of light was allowed to pass through would reflect off of it. They twirled it about in their hand, eyes scrutinizing every detail and fingers prodding a few empty holes, places that looked like a USB port somewhat.
"What's it supposed to be?" Frisk asked, and they already heard Temmie groan before they had a chance to finish.
"pUzzle, Frisk! Iz supposed 2 be a PUZZLE!"
Mettaton would've crossed his arms by now. With that kind of response, he would've tapped his foot against the snow and stood up before walking away. That's what he would've done, so when Frisk only shook their head...they didn't even look upset. They weren't upset with that tone of voice that their roommate used? He would be!
"What does it do?" they continued. Their voice was still even as it had been before, showing little emotion, that small portion managing to break through being, of course, compassion. They must have been so close to their friend to be able to put up with that level of stupidity.
The tem huffed, followed by her flinging her arms into the snow. "Well I put it together den it has a HOOOOOLE bunch of colors and each coolor means a different thing liek blue is paranas or something an I tink orange tiles make u smell like da oranges!"
Frisk nodded, their face brightening up a bit, as if to say, 'cool!'. Their eyes darted around once more at the various different pieces, all mostly identical save for the position of the USB ports or an occasional part that looked as if it might just connect to those openings. They placed the piece that Temmie had against the part in their own hands, jostling it until a small click! could be heard and handing the now-joint pair back to their friend, who was resting their eyes on it with sparkling intensity.
"Woaahh… HOW U DO DAT!?"
"It's a puzzle," they said with a light chuckle before reaching for another piece. "This one has...holes. So you take the pieces that don't…"
Meanwhile, Mettaton was making his way over to a large metal box in the corner of the path. It was a deep, shineless gray, with a red checkerboard screen, what looked like a VHS slot just beneath it, and several knobs lining the very bottom. For whatever reason, there was something about this strange grey brick that struck Mettaton as familiar, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what. Perhaps it was the fact that the thing reminded him of one of those giant T.V.s from the 90s. It was a possibility, though the cause seemed to be routed a bit deeper than that. It almost felt like that giant box was a part of him, or should be…
...but that's an illogical thought.
The protagonist shook his head, removing his fingers from the machine and turning to the two in the middle before stepping back onto the pathway.
"I'm going ahead now," he called, and just as Tem seemed like she was ready to reply, Frisk interjected with a nod and a smile.
"See you later."
He could hear Temmie scolding the human in the background, but Mettaton didn't care. It wasn't like the tem seemed overly-violent or anything, and Frisk seemed like they could care for themself. If they didn't, why even bother in the first place?
Mettaton's attention shifted on his travel companion, who had remained fairly silent up until this point. Her feet fell in rhythm side-by-side with him, and her hands pressed against each other as she kept her head pointed forward, eyes scanning the area up ahead. It wasn't until now that he realized how short she was. How yellow, nerdy, shy…
He knew her from somewhere.
He wasn't entirely sure where, but Mettaton knew that he recognized her from somewhere further back in his memory. It was strange. She had been down underground with the rest of the monsters, right? The former human couldn't remember anything about monsters being on the surface. Surely that'd be something worthy of the media's attention. But he was certain he hadn't fallen down here before...and if that were the case, where else could he have seen her?
Perhaps he was in some variant of that Tim Burton movie. Nineteen, confused, and constantly being bombarded by random monsters...it certainly felt like it. If only he could remember the first time he fell down the rabbit hole.
By the time he had reached another bright stone, our protagonist was already pulling out his SAVE record, and Alphys was ready with her line of text.
*Knowing that Frisk is going to make it out alright…
*...It rekindles your perseverance.
Woo! I got A BUNCH OF STUFF THAT SERIOUSLY NEEDS TO BE READ. GUYS I PUT THIS UP HERE FOR A REASON. IT'S NOT ALL POINTLESS RAMBLING!
Firstly, I've posted a bit on the Tumblr and my DeviantArt. I've posted a little bit of music on the Tumblr, but I'm really bad at this...and also really new. So if you guys could help, that'd be great...
Also, I made a oneshot with Frisk and Chara from EquationTale. It's called "Don't Leave Me All Alone". Just...go to my profile if you're interested, I guess...
I'm looking for people that can draw comics! Or I mean...just fan art at all would be nice. I...I kind of get this feeling that this AU is pointless. I mean, it's not that popular, at least I don't think so. Y'know? I dunno. I just want people to get ideas from this...y'know? This probably sounds stupid...I'll shut up now.
Oh wait. I'm the only one talking.
...
At any rate!
This part isn't as important, I just wanted to bring some light to something. My OTP, as much as I'd like to express it here, would be rather...impractical. That being said, it's also very scarce, and quite frankly I don't know what to do with it. As one of the few shippers of this pairing- and the sole one to create it- it is my duty to spread the pairing in any way I can! Right now this might be the only way.
So, what is the pairing? Well, I call it Napster.
Yes, that stands for Napstablook x Gaster.
Okay, back to important stuff.
Speaking of music, I made a list of what I would imagine the EquationTale soundtrack to be. Would anyone want to read it? I don't know where to post it since it's...well, the whole sound track, and I don't think that'd be good to post on a fanfiction chapter. But if I post it on Tumblr, would anyone bother to look? Or DeviantArt?
I won't do it if no one asks. I don't know where to put it.
There was other stuff I wanted to talk about...but I think maybe this sums it all up?
I feel really all over the place right now. Scatterbrained. I feel lost, and stressed. This fanfic is starting to be more like a chore than a fun thing to do in my free time, and I think it's starting to show. I don't know what to do some of the time. Don't know what to write. I don't really want to do another chapter of Snowdin...it's painful to write in. I just want to get to Temmie's fight already and move on.
A lot of stuff is going on in my life and I just feel...I just feel lost. There's really no other way of describing it. Writing is a way to express one's self, so, as mentioned before, this is probably evident in my writing. I'm really sorry. I just...I...I'll shut up before you guys start getting bored. Well, more than you already are, anyway.
Reviews
NoItsBecky:
Okay, I'll just get this one out of the way.
Before I go into gender shit for the humans, lemme make it clear that in my headcannon, Frisk and Chara's sex/gender vary depending on the AU. For instance, I picture OuterTale!Frisk as very teenage boy, while HorrorTale!Frisk I like to imagine as a Fran Bow style girl. Just straight up boy and girl. I imagine Swap!Frisk as female, but non-binary.
That being said, for this AU, I wanted to keep Frisk and Chara's relationship as close to Sans and Toriel's as I could. Gender does play a factor in relationships, so Chara is female and Frisk is male. For the sake of convenience.
HOWEVER. That is what they are born as. I don't want people being biased toward this entire AU just because of two characters' pronouns. That's completely unnecessary. If I say Frisk is a girl, people will be screaming they're a boy. If I say they're a boy, others will scream they're a girl. If I just call them a 'they', only few people will actually get upset. So, while yes, Chara and Frisk do have stuff in their pants, in this AU, they identify as non-binary.
I also want to make it clear that Chara is much more adamant about this than Frisk. Both prefer "they," but if you call Frisk a "he," he won't get offended. If you call 'em a girl, they might get a bit upset...but really, not that much. Chara, on the other hand, if you call them anything but "they," they will turn you into a bleeding, screaming cheese grater...with more holes.
THAT BEING SAID, I really don't give a shit what you call them. They're fictional characters. It's just fun poking at people that get it wrong ;p