The trio of humans continued through Hotland in the hopes of getting through it without being blindsided by Mettaton again. Selendis continued to hold a bad feeling in her gut over something potentially making their entire journey pointless or with severe consequences but refrained from telling her companions about it; Tenebris didn't need anything fueling his depression.

He was still holding the phone when Alphys called them when they stopped in front of some steam vents and a closed door. "Alphys here. Um... Tenebris, were you the one who posted that?"

He jumped a bit before nervously responding, "Y-yes I did."

"Did... did you actually mean that? I-I mean... to lose sight of your future at such a young age..."

Tenebris gulped as he felt the sisters stare very intently at him, clearly not wanting him to continue admitting his still prevalent depression. "W-well... certain 'tragedies' tend to do that to people. I'll admit that I don't think like that as often anymore, but it still occasionally invades my mind."

"Tragedies, huh..? A-anyways, the door in front of you won't open until you solve the puzzles nearby. I-if you want me personal opinion, t-the right one is safer than the left one." She stuttered at the end there, which told Tenebris that something was up. Even though she had opened up a bit more, a part of him refused to trust her.

Selendis sighed and shook her head. "Right first it is, then. I just want to go somewhere cool again..."

Frisk looked at the phone funny. "What makes the left path more dangerous? Is Mettaton in that general area?"

Alphys stammered a bit more. "U-um, not e-exactly. There are some t-traps I've yet to d-deactivate for y-you guys. I'm working on it n-now, but I still need a little m-more time."

Tenebris groaned. "If said trap is a laser, couldn't I just vault over it? I do have stupid-high jumping capability."

Alphys paused for a bit. "I-I suppose that could work. Outside of those lasers, i-it's just as safe as the right path."

"Then that's what we're doing. Selendis and Frisk, you guys go right. I'll go left and solve the puzzle there to save on time."

Selendis hesitated. The last few times Tenebris deviated from the group, he first almost died then got drunk the second time. Making up her mind, she shook her head. "We'll ALL go right and wait for Alphys to finish deactivating the traps on the left."

Tenebris was appalled. "Wait, what? Alphys literally said there's-"

"Tenebris, remember the last two times you split off from us?" Selendis gave him a stern glare. When he gave her a confused look, she groaned. "First time, you almost get killed! Second time, you get drunk when you're underage and... said some things that broke my heart, and I don't mean you being mean to me. So no, I refuse to let you go off on your own, not on this journey anyways."

"I... uh..." Tenebris tried to think of a retort before sighing in defeat. "Guess I lost my privileges on that front..."

"Exactly. You become a danger to yourself if nobody is around to look after you!" He pouted at her and she shook her head. "It's true and you know it." Frisk was trying her hardest not to start giggling madly, even though it was a serious situation. She could tell Selendis was now constantly worried over Tenebris like she was afraid of losing him and, to her, was fussing over him like a girlfriend might over an overly reckless boyfriend.

Alphys let out a nervous cough. "R-right, I should p-probably go. OH! Tenebris, I should... give you some bad news. Try as I might, I couldn't find any sort of scientific research data on my mainframe. The only thing existing in the underground that contains information on dark magic is a specific book and there's only about three copies left." She lets out a depressed sigh. "I-I know I said I would help you on that front as well... but I just can't."

Tenebris panicked a little. "I-it's fine, Alphys! We found a copy in Snowdin and gleaned a lot of useful information from it. Besides, from what I heard from an old monster named Gerson, the last sighting of my dark magic by monster kind was before your ancestors got sealed down here. Because of that, I doubt there would be any sort of computer data on my magic, so don't feel too bad!"

That seemed to cheer the scientist up. "Thanks, Tenebris. I'll let you know when I've deactivated those traps on the left side." With that, she hung up.

Going to the right, the humans found a bunch of monsters slacking off with the excuse that defense systems had activated, trapping them there. Ignoring them, they went into the tiny building and gain some respite from the heat and tried out the puzzle, which was a pesudo space-shooter game. It was very easy to get on the first try. When they went to the other side, the laser blocking their way suddenly shut off, followed by a phone call from Alphys saying so, only to be embarrassed by the fact that the humans saw it turn off.

After solving that puzzle and going through the door, they were met with a series of steam vents. Frisk looked at them curiously. "Looks like these vents has us land on subsequent ones in rapid succession. Looks like fun!" Before Selendis could say anything, she jumped onto a vent want was continuously rocketed off to the other side safely.

Tenebris gave Selendis an impish grin. "Guess you could say it's... full steam ahead!"

"I'VE CHANGED MY MIND, TENEBRIS! YOU CAN GO OFF ON YOUR OWN FOR ALL I CARE!" Tenebris busted a gut laughing at her reaction and, judging by the laughing from afar, so did Frisk. When the older humans got across, Selendis' mood didn't get any better when Tenebris mentioned "blowing off steam".

When they entered the room, it was pitch black. Tenebris, even with his enhanced night vision, could barely make out shapes in the room. When Alphys turned the lights on for them, all of them were shocked and horrified at the fact that they were situated in a kitchen. "OHHH YES! WELCOME, BEAUTIES, TO THE UNDERGROUND'S PREMIERE COOKING SHOW!"

As the words "Cooking with a Killer Robot" appeared, the humans gave Mettaton a mixture of faces, with Tenebris giving him reawakened ire. "PRE-HEAT YOUR OVENS BECAUSE WE'VE GOT A VERY SPECIAL RECIPE TODAY! TODAY WE'RE MAKING A VERY SPECIAL CAKE! WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT IT, YOU MAY ASK? YOU'LL FIND OUT SOON ENOUGH!"

"Three guesses as to how it's special..." Tenebris whispered into the sister's ears. They simply nodded.

"I HOPE OUR GORGEOUS BLOND HERE DOESN'T HAVE TO WEAR A HAIR-NET! IT WOULD BE A TRAGEDY IF THOSE BEAUTIFUL STRANDS HAD TO BE FORCEFULLY TIED UP AND NOT SHOWING OFF THEIR BRILLIANT LIGHT!" Tenebris let out a low growl and Frisk gave him a worried look. Mettaton must of known his actions are pushing Tenebris' buttons, otherwise he wouldn't antagonize him like this. "ANYWAYS, WOULD THE KID KINDLY GATHER UP THE INGREDIENTS FOR ME? I'M PRETTY SURE YOU KNOW WHAT GOES INTO MOST CAKES, SO I'LL SPARE YOU THE DETAILS! EVERYONE GIVE THEM A BIG HAND!"

Confetti rained down on Frisk as Mettaton clapped. She looks behind her and sees the three ingredients just sitting there, so she quickly gathered them up. "I... think that's everything..."

"WELL LET'S SEE HERE! HMM... MILK, EGGS, AND SUGAR. THAT IS PERFECT, THANK YOU MY LITTLE BEAUTY! NOW WE HAVE ALL THE INGREDIENTS TO MAKE THE CAKE!" Mettaton paused for a bit, making Frisk give him a confused moment. "HOLD UP A MAGNIFICENT MOMENT! I SAID WE WERE GOING TO MAKE A 'SPECIAL' CAKE, DIDN'T I? I ALMOST FORGOT THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT FOR IT!" He suddenly brought a chainsaw out from under the counter, making Frisk squeak in fright and run back to the older humans. "A HUMAN SOUL. AND LUCKILY FOR US THERE'S THREE, SO WE'RE MAKING A TRIPLE BATCH!"

He revved up the chainsaw and slowly approached the trio. Tenebris grumbled before throwing solid, gunky shadows at the chainsaw, causing it to suddenly sputter out and smoke. He smiled after seeing Mettaton's apparent look of surprise. "Aw, did I break an important kitchen appliance? Don't worry I'm sure you can ALWAYS get another one in the near future. Why not keep that one, though? It's 'smoking' hot!"

"Was that pun really necessary now of all places, Tenebris?" Selendis rolled her eyes, trying not to groan out loud.

The phone suddenly rang and Tenebris hit the answer button. "Y-yeah, Mettaton. B-besides, what if... what if someone watching is... vegan? C-couldn't you... make a substitution?" Tenebris gave the phone ringing Alphys voice out an odd look but shook his head.

Mettaton gave the phone an odd look. "... VEGAN?"

"W-well I mean-"

"THAT'S A BRILLIANT IDEA ALPHYS! I ACTUALLY HAPPEN TO HAVE AN OPTION ON HAND: MTT-BRAND ALWAYS-CONVENIENT HUMAN-SOUL-FLAVOR-SUBSTITUTE! A CAN OF IT HAPPENS TO BE ON THAT COUNTER OVER THERE!" He points to a counter that was very detached from the kitchen. "SINCE THE SHADOW-WIELDING HUMAN BROKE MY 'APPLIANCE', WHY SHOULDN'T HE GO GRAB IT FOR US?"

Tenebris rolled his eyes as he sighed. "Yeah, because it being that far away is totally not going to be a trap." Shaking his head at the sisters, Selendis giving him a confused look and Frisk continuing to give him a worried look, he gave them the phone and headed towards the can, though not before shooting a death glare at the robot as he passed.

Mettaton chuckled to himself as the human approached the can. This human, Tenebris I believe, is going to make this little charade very interesting indeed. Besides, all of my lovely viewers no doubt saw the glare he just gave me.

When Tenebris reached the can, the counter 'sank' then suddenly shot up. He groaned in irritation. "Can I call them or what?"

Mettaton chuckled as he approached. "MY MY, GENRE SAVVY, ARE WE? WELL LET ME ADD ON THE FACT THAT OUR SHOW RUNS ON A STRICT TIME LIMIT. IF YOU CAN'T OBTAIN THE CAN IN ONE MINUTE, WE'LL HAVE TO GO BACK TO OUR ORIGINAL PLAN. MIGHT I ADD EVEN FURTHER, IT COULD BE ONE OF THEIR SOULS?"

Tenebris sharply turned to the robot and hissed, "You wouldn't dare!"

"I'M AFRAID SO. BESIDES, YOU WOULD HAVE NO ONE ELSE TO BLAME BUT YOURSELF IF YOU'RE TOO SLOW. I'D START CLIMBING IF I WERE-"

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to stop you right there. Climbing? That's cute." Tenebris scoffed before throwing up his jumping aura and started vaulting up the column with a myriad of jumps.

Mettaton let out a whistle as the sisters rushed up to the column. "WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES. I NEVER ANTICIPATED SUCH WONDROUS JUMPING CAPABILITY! PERHAPS I SHOULD GO UP AND MEET HIM AT THE TOP!" With that, he activated his boosters and rocketed up after Tenebris.

Selendis let out a dismayed sigh. "And after I just got done telling him he shouldn't go off on his own..."

"I think it has to do with the fact that Mettaton was tormenting him before and during this." Frisk stated with worry; she didn't want Tenebris to start falling to magic corruption now of all places, not when they're so close to the core and the end of their journey.

"How was Mettaton tormenting him? If anything, he's tormenting ME!" This caused Frisk to facepalm. Selendis tended to miss things like that unless it explicitly slaps her in the face, hence why she was still pretty ignorant of Tenebris' feelings toward her.

Up top, Tenebris had reached the can at the same time Mettaton did. Tenebris pointed at the robot with a snarky grin. "Where's your god now, Mettaton?"

"MY MY, IT SEEMS YOU ACTUALLY BESTED ME. WHO KNEW YOU COULD CLIMB SO FAST VERTICALLY. LOOKS LIKE YOU WIN THIS ROUND AS WELL, HUMAN! WELL TOODLES!" Mettaton started flying off before suddenly coming back. "OH YES, ABOUT THE SUBSTITUTION... HAVEN'T YOU EVER SEEN A COOKING SHOW BEFORE?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I ALREADY BAKED THE CAKE AHEAD OF TIME! AS SUCH, I WISH YOU LUCK IN GETTING BACK DOWN!"

Mettaton started laughing, but was cut off by Tenebris prying the can off the surface of the 'counter' and chucking it hard at him, resulting in a loud clang and an indignant "OW". "You son of a-"

"AH AH AH, NO SWEARING IN A FAMILY FRIENDLY TV SHOW!" The robot scolded before flying off again.

Tenebris growled venomously at the retreating robot until he was out of sight. When he turned his attention back to the current situation, he was suddenly aware of how high up he was. Fear started to overcome him as he started shivering violently. "I-I c-completely f-forgot... I HATE HEIGHTS!"

Selendis heard him shout and facepalmed hard. "You think he would of thought of that before trying to show up Mettaton?" Hearing the phone ring, she answers it. "What is it, Alphys?"

""T-Tenebris doesn't seem all that inclined to, um, c-climb down. H-he's shaking violently and looks like he's about to cry."

Selendis sighed. "Tenebris is just like a cat in that regard. He can climb up very easily, but climbing down seems to be an Achilles Heel for him. What doesn't help his case is that he's scared stiff of heights."

"Oh, I didn't know he was so scared of heights. W-well I can lower the counter back to it's original position! Just give me a moment." Alphys hung up and not long after, the column started lowering.

When Tenebris felt the column start moving under him, he gripped the sides of the counter and closed his eyes tightly. When it stopped moving, he cracked his eyes open to see an amused look on Selendis' face. "And what have we learned here?"

"T-to not climb really tall objects?" That made the sisters burst out into laughter at how unsure Tenebris sounded, especially when he was very careful about getting off the counter. After he had calmed down, they moved on.

Little did the humans know, Flowey was still stalking them. He gave the group his own amused look. "To think the one who can control fear is actually afraid of something. Interesting, veeeery interesting." He thought back again to when Selendis was the only anomaly. Mettaton was hitting on her then as well, though she seemed more aware of it then, almost as if she became a bit more blissfully ignorant about things like that ever since Tenebris showed up.

He suddenly remembered one detail from then and grinned maliciously. "I wonder how well they can managed with her fears this time." He burrowed back underground, intent on stalking them all the way to Asgore's castle. They weren't going for the ending he was hoping for, but he'll settle for this.

As the trio of humans continued, they suddenly saw an ominous building in the distance. As if on cue, Alphys phoned again. "S-see that building in the distance? That's the Core, the source of all power for the underground."

Selendis looked at the Core curiously. "How does it generate power? I've never seen anything like this."

"It converts geothermal energy into magical electricity!"

Tenebris frowned. "What the difference between magical electricity and normal electricity?"

That question clearly caught Alphys off guard. "Um... I don't actually know... I think they're largely... the same? A-anyways, inside the Core is an elevator leading directly to Asgore's castle. From there, you can go home!"

Frisk let out a sigh. "Home... huh..."

Alphys had heard Frisk's sigh. "W-what's wrong? You 'did' come this far to go home, right?"

"Y-yeah. Don't mind me, just thinking about something." Alphys must of bought it because she hung up shortly after.

Tenebris sighed. "I feel the same way, Frisk. We are doing all of this, only to return to the Ruins after my business on the surface is done... in a way, I feel like we're taking advantage of all of our friends down here..."

"That's just how it is, unfortunately..." Selendis shook her head. "Perhaps they will understand when Toriel decides to come out of the ruins and re-intergrate with the society down here. For now, all we can do is pray we don't leave too bad of a mark."

"Agreed."

Reaching the elevator that Alphys mentioned when they first met, they go up to floor R2. They meet a fire monster named Flames Heatsman, who seemed somewhat condescending so they moved on shortly. There, they saw Sans. "hey, guys. how are you finding hotland so far?"

"Hot." Was all Selendis said.

"Tenebris nodded. "I agree. Anyways, what are you doing here, Sans?"

"nothing much. just figured that i would set up a hot dog stand here. wanna buy one? only 30G."

Selendis was about to open her mouth when Frisk cut her off. "Sure I'll take one! I feel like I need the energy." She hands over the money and Sans gives her a hot dog... which she scrutinized. "Sans, did you just give me a water sausage in a bun? I know practical jokes are your kind of thing, but that's just rude..."

Tenebris and Selendis gave each other a confused look. "Water sausage?"

"It's similar to cattails on the surface."

Sans snorted when the Selendis glared at him and Tenebris facepalmed with a smirk. "if it makes you feel any better, they are still edible. Plus, that's the only water sausage 'dog i've got anyways."

"Alrighty then, Sans. Where did you even find water sausages anyways? I never seen any growing in the underground." Tenebris asked, his left eye flaring thoughtfully.

"they're found in waterfall, you might of just missed the paths that have them growing. anyways, here's the hot dogs for you guys." He hands The three humans more hot dogs. They found out that they were technically hot cats, but they were meat so Selendis let it slide.

As they continued, they got the first update from Alphys in a while with a picture of a cat girl figurine: dinner with the girlfriend ;)

Frisk snorted as she ate her hot cat. "Almost looks like she's instagraming her food."

Selendis shook her head. "Maybe monster society down here isn't so different from human society, despite the isolation." Tenebris hummed a bit, but didn't comment.

They suddenly got a picture update from someone named CookSkeleton95: ARE WE POSTING HOT "PICS?" HERE IS ME AND MY COOL FRIEND

Tenebris laughed when he saw the picture. "Oh Papyrus, never change."

Alphys responded quickly: LOL CoolSkeleton95... that's a joke, right? Papyrus responded with: THE ONLY JOKE HERE, IS HOW STRONG MY MUSCLES ARE.

Selendis snorted as she typed on the phone: S: Hate to be a killjoy here, CoolSkeleton95, but if you're a skeleton, doesn't that mean you have no muscles?

Frisk looked at her with a baffled expression. "Oh come on, Selly. Let him have his-" She was cut off when Papyrus responded with: OH NOO! IT REALLY IS A JOKE!

"I... didn't mean to make him sad over it. I was just... stating fact."

Frisk rolled her eyes as she swiped the phone from Selendis and typed: F: Hey, that doesn't mean you aren't strong, though! She got a happy response.

At one point, they got a friend request from NAPSTABLOOK22. Frisk tried to accept it, but it rejected itself, making the humans feel bad for the ghost. They found an apron and Selendis was voted to wear it. She groaned in irritation. "You guys like making me wear everything. Fine, but I'm giving the glasses to someone else."

"Frisk. Unlike me, she can't throw up defensive barriers or teleport out of harms way."

Frisk gave Tenebris a look before shaking her head. "If you say so. However, next time we find something, you're the one getting it."

"Heh... yes m'lady."

When they reached what looked like a conveyor-belt puzzle, Alphys tried to help them with it. However, she made them miss the last switch, though it deactivated the force-field blocking the way anyways. She then updated that it's the last time she tries to help with a puzzle. It was the worst timing too, as the humans got stuck on a steam-vent puzzle for quite a while before finally solving it.

When they got near what looked like a safe, they kept getting updates from Alphys about how bad a sequel to Mew Mew Kissy Cutie was the worst thing ever. This baffled Tenebris. "It happens a lot on the surface too. People bash sequels for "not living up to the first one's expectations". Am I the only one who likes them, games or animes?"

Frisk frowned. "For me, it depends. I have played and watched some pretty good sequels, especially if it properly builds upon what the first one laid out, but there are some that fall flat on their faces."

"Uh... I honestly just treat everything as it's own individual story, not as continuations or whatever." Selendis stated awkwardly.

Tenebris hummed thoughtfully. "If that's how you do thing's I won't judge. Sometimes it's better that way anyways."

"Hey! You three! Stop!" The humans turned sharply to see the two royal guards from before approaching them. "We've, like, received an anonymous tip about a trio of humans wandering around in Hotland right now." All three humans froze on the spot, not knowing what to say or do. "It's not safe, especially since we've been told that one had dark powers capable of utterly destroying anyone it comes across." Tenebris felt his heart drop into his heart. Hearing them say that suddenly brought up very painful memories and he grew deathly pale.

The guard continued on, "I know, sounds scary, huh? Well, just stay chill. We'll bring you three someplace safe, okay?" He beckoned them and, not knowing what else to do, the trio followed him and his partner. When the second guard suddenly stopped, the first one looked confused. "Huh? what is it, bro?" The second one mumbled something. "There's three of them? And the male has a shadowy eye?" The humans started backing off a bit as the guards faced them. "Bro... are you thinkin'... what I'm thinkin?" The first guard rubbed the back of his head. "Bummer, this is, like, mega embarrassing. We totally have to kill you and stuff, even though you seemed so nice earlier. Sorry."

Their souls appeared as the guards drew their weapons. Tenebris backed away a few more steps and very reluctantly summoned a scythe. No... not now... not when... I can hear the screams...

He snapped back to attention when one of the guards started to dash at Selendis. He managed to block it and swung the scythe to drive him back, the screaming still in the back of his head. The other one tried to strike him, but couldn't get past the scythe because of how long it was and how large the head was. They resorted to a double magic attack that forced all three humans to dodge.

Tenebris' inexplicable and rapidly growing irritation managed to silence the screaming as he went on the offence a bit, trying to get the guards to relent. They were nowhere near as strong as Undyne was, but the way they often kept alternating between attacking Frisk and Selendis started pissing him off. When they suddenly got a good strike off on Frisk while he was distracted with Selendis, that pushed him over the line and he growled, "Okay, you two... I've been TRYING to play nice, but you refuse to give up your attack. I'll only say this one more time: leave us alone!"

The guards shook their heads. "Sorry, we have orders to take one of your souls to King Asgore."

"So that's how it is, huh? You're willing to commit cold-blooded murder just because your "king" told you to. Pitiful..." His left iris disappeared as he glared at them. "Now... allow me to teach you the true meaning of the word fear."

His entire body was enveloped in a dark aura as he approached the duo menacingly, despite desperate pleas from the sisters. They both started trembling violently in fear as one of them suddenly cried out, "I-it can't be... the Grim Reaper... has come for us!"

I-it can't be... is this what we've created? Now... the Grim Reaper... comes for us...

Tenebris stopped dead in his tracks, aura dissipating and iris returned with a horrified look. "My god... what am I doing? W-what... what am I!"

The guards stopped trembling as he collapsed onto one knee, confused. One moment, they felt like they were staring right at death itself and the next they see a human on one knee, seemingly trembling from self-inflicted fear and being comforted by his companions. They didn't know what to think.


Sans had went back to his house in Snowdin to read the book about the magic of darkness again, purely out of curiosity. He deadpanned when he saw something he didn't see before: "Human users of the magic of darkness tend to suffer from emotional instability as they learn to control their magic. By no means does it ever degrade to violent mood swings, but increases in irritability and other negative emotions have been recorded. By extension, regardless if the user is human or monster, if they have committed a grave sin in the past, advanced users have the small chance of self-inflicting themselves with fear; fear of what they have done."

Papyrus saw the section when he passed by and was suddenly worried. "DOES THAT MEAN TENEBRIS COULD BE MORE IRRITABLE?"

"he didn't seem like it when he first left snowdin, but he certainly looked irritated during his appearances on tv. the sisters are with him, so i doubt we have to worry much about him, nor do we have to worry about him hitting himself with fear; i doubt he's committed any 'grave sins' before coming down here..." Sans trailed off at the end, wondering if it truly was a good idea to teach Tenebris the vanishing eye trick. Papyrus mentioned that He looks scary serious whenever he does it, which he expected, but when Tenebris did it to him, even just in good-natured practice, he felt like he was looking death straight in the eye.

Sans sighed. He still couldn't believe he was tempted to call the mostly good-natured human the Grim Reaper. maybe i should refrain from giving him his advanced lessons should he come back for them...