Cover Art: FairyFan94 from Deviant Art
Chapter 14 – The last Episode?
Small tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. Her left arm hurt. Her soul that started out red was now upside down and glowing yellow thanks to Alphys. Her HP was down to 5. Yet she gathered all her strength and stood up, wiping away the unspilled tears. She didn't understand it. Was this what her goat mother wanted to protect her from? Wasn't Mettaton just acting for his show?
Frisk managed to barely dodge a little Mettaton-copy that flew her way barely, yet the heart that it threw her way gazed her left arm again. It stung. Her HP dropped to 2. The ratings went up 200. The little girl felt like crying. This wasn't as fun as she had imaged it to be. Why wasn't this 'fight' like the one she had with her friend Undyne?
Reaching into her pocket she remembered something her goat mother had told her about Monster food having healing abilities for humans. Pulling out a starfait, she had begged Papyrus earlier to buy her, she drunk from it noticing how the ratings on the wall went up a notch as well as her HP going up to 16.
"Time for a pop quiz darling!"
Mettatons arms stretched out and gave a surprised Frisk pen and paper before she could even breath a relieved sigh for the little break and that this wasn't a real 'fight' after all.
"This one is an essay question!" Suddenly on the wall behind the robot letters started to appear spelling: 'Essay prompt: Why do you love most about Mettaton?'
The little girl blinked confused for a moment before grinning and plopping down on the ground. Mettaton looked slightly astonished at how enthusiastic the child scribbled down word after word. Once the time was up the robot mercilessly took the paper from the child who slightly protested having not written down everything they wanted.
Frisk puffed out their cheeks while Mettaton read through the essay eyes going just a little bit wider with every line he read. Once he finished he smiled brightly at his little fan. "Why thank you little one." Folding the paper up, he placed it somewhere safe so he wouldn't lose it. "This will be kept for later."
The child smiled happily at the praise. Her eyes were shining with determination that was radiant from her as she watched her TV Idol do some questionable poses. The victorious look in his face, the way he awaited her next action, the way he seemed so sure of his every action.
Somehow...
Everything was so familiar.
Frisk huffed a little. Of course it was familiar. She had watched nearly every show she could with Papyrus since she started to live with the skeletons. Why wouldn't her Idols actions be familiar to her? Yet that strange feeling of familiarity was floating through her very being.
Boosting to the audience, striking a pose every action she made. Slowly everything seemed to be in a rhyme she knew by soul. Every pose, every step, every smile, she felt like her body knew what she had to do without her thinking too much the more time passed.
Striking a dramatic pose, Frisk giggled happily before jumping out of the way of a leg aimed at her soul. Slowly she got into the rhyme of dodging and posing again. Occasionally she stuck out her tongue to the audience or gave them a thumps up when she barely managed to dodge something her idol threw at her. Slowly even dodging was becoming easier and easier. Mettatons attacks gazed her more and more rarely.
The feeling of familiarity grew in her with every passing second. Slowly the fun returned and she giggled spinning around while dodging another attack from an equally smiling Mettaton.
"Time for our union-regulated break!" The words 'Happy Breaktime' appeared on the walls around them.
Frisk giggled between taking deep breaths. She didn't know that appearing on a TV show was so exhausting yet fun at the same time. The child glanced at that yellow bar above their head noting that her HP had dropped to 12 yet wasn't dangerously low.
Their rhyme of posing, attacking and dodging kept on going once the break was over. After a while Mettaton lost his arms. Frisk felt shocked and horrified seeing his arms just blast away. Yet the robot kept on posing even without his arms like nothing happened, giving the child determination to keep on going also when her HP dropped to 7 when an electric wave from Mettatons heart hit her.
The child huffed, her muscles ached and she felt sweating from all that posing and dodging. Her HP had dropped to 2 because of her movements becoming sloppy yet the ratings were going up. She did another pose but stumbled backwards in surprise when her TV-Idol lost his legs. In astonishment the child watched how the robot kept going even thought he was nothing more than an upper body without limps.
Mettaton was about to unleash another attack of electric waves with his heart as a slowly getting louder voice from the distance was heard. Both the robot and the human child turned to the side it was coming from.
"NyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH?!"
Out of nowhere Papyrus shot up the side of the stage, supporting a light blue glow around him. But… the tall skeleton shot up further and did a U-kind-of-turn in the air. The skeleton looked like he was about to do a cool landing on the stage but… instead he smacked with his head against the ground of the stage. Frisk flinched a little at Papyrus impact and slowly took a step in his direction. But the tall skeleton sprung up and took a heroic kind of stand, placing one hand on his chest and his little red cape/scarf waving in the air.
"FEAR NOT HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED TO SAVE YOU!"
Frisk giggled happily before smiling up at the tall skeleton. They did not notice how the ratings went up but Mettaton did. "Oh my… look at these ratings."
The child turned to look at the robot smiling at her TV-Idol. She didn't notice the shocked look on the taller skeletons face when he saw how low the childs HP was.
"This is the most views I've ever had! It's time that we let a viewer call in! One lucky viewer will have the chance to talk to me…" Frisk grinned happily; pulling out her phone even thought she was just standing a few meters away from him.
"…before I leave the Underground forever!"
The happy smile Frisk had dropped. Now she remembered. Mettaton had said earlier that this was his last episode. Slowly the human child started to tear up. She didn't want it to end. She didn't want her favorite TV-Show to stop. Even though Papyrus was shocked too about what his favorite TV-Idol said he was too busy consoling the small human child and keeping an eye on their HP. The fight was not over yet. Her soul was after all still floating in front of her chest. It took a lot from Papyrus self-control for him to not freak out over it but he knew with his brother still not up on the stage he needed have a cool skull. Especially since he had told his brother that he would help in keeping Frisk safe.
The taller Skeleton didn't notice that Frisk attention was now back on her robot idol who called in one viewer after another, his expression changing with every call he got. Slowly the child also dialed a number and waited.
She made eye contact with the robot on the ground and smiled despite the tears that threated to fall. "Please don't go, they need you here." This was all the small human child said before hanging up. The robot looked a little shocked at the human child in the skeletons arms before he closed his eyes and smiled.
"I see. Everyone thank you so much. Darling, I think you are right. It is better for me to stay here, after all humans already have their Idols but monsters? They only have me… If I left the Underground would lose its spark. I'd leave an aching void that can never be filled. So I will delay my big debut. Besides… it seems that I already have a fabulous human fan here."
Frisk smiled happily now wiping away her tears and looking up happily at Papyrus who gave her despite his worry a smile. "NYEH HEH HEH! HUMAN I KNEW YOU WOULD SAY THE RIGHT WORDS!"
Frisk giggled before hugging the taller skeleton, as he stood up with the child in his arms. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND THE SMALL HUMAN WILL BE LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR NEXT SHOW!"
Suddenly the robot looked away and the child and skeleton looked confused as the robot gave a weak laugh. "The truth is, this form's energy consumption is… inefficient. In a few moments, i'll run out of battery power, and… well…"
Frisk hands flew to her mouth covering it as she stared wide eyed at the robot that held a look of confident in his face. "I will be alright. Thank you for being in my show darling. And everyone thank you… you've been a great audience! "
"He, looks like my help wasn't needed after all." Sans chuckled, a little glad to see that everything apparently went the way it was supposed to. He and Papyrus watched with relieve how the childs soul sunk back into her chest.
Thought a look of shock crossed Papyrus face as he noticed the seemingly lifeless form off Mettaton. The moment Frisk saw how the light from the robots eyes disappeared and the light from the pink heart faded out, she buried her face in Papyrus shoulder armor. A dark feeling started to emerge from the back of her mind.
The child did not notice how the stage lowered or how the taller skeleton slightly panicked while trying to console the child in his arms. Even the smaller skeleton telling them that the robot had only run out of battery went unnoticed by the child.
"This is all your fault~"
Frisk froze, before trying to ignore that voice. It was the same that had caused her trouble before.
"He didn't run out of battery. You killed him~"
The small girl shook their head and tried to bury their face deeper in Papyrus armor. The skeleton brothers gave the child a concerned looks while they were waiting for Alphys to appear. Papyrus had insisted on waiting for the scientist since it felt wrong to just leave Mettaton there. Sans on the other hand, wanted to do nothing more than to drag them back home since Frisk HP was still down to 2. Also the way Frisk did not react to them as if she wasn't even hearing them worried him greatly.
"They are telling you lies."
The child shivered, a dark and ice cold feeling was getting a hold of her heart.
"He would still be alive…"
A whimper escaped the girl as she started to feel numb.
"…if you hadn't flipped that switch."
The human child started to struggle against Papyrus hold on her. Moving around wildly, wordlessly demanding to be set free. The taller skeleton became more and more worried as the child refused to calm down. Papyrus hold on to the child as long as he could before Frisk suddenly broke free. She dropped to the ground landing on her feet.
"But you flipped it… and now? He is death! You hear? DEATH!"
"Kiddo?" Sans had a bad feeling and reached out to the child but she only shook her head and stepped back avoiding his bony hand. The child was shaking and he could clearly see tears that rolled down her cheeks.
"He is death and you?"
The short skeleton eyes went wide as he held out one arm to stop his brother from approaching the small child. Papyrus gave him an irritated look and loudly stated how the human child was in need of comfort. Sans ignored it as he stared intensely at the child, trying to see their eyes again.
"You are nothing but a bad girl."
Sans tensed as the child before them stilled. He feared the worst yet thousand thoughts were running wild in his mind. He feared the worst and couldn't help it as his right eye started to dip into a light blue color. Papyrus was worriedly looking to and fro between his brother and the child. He wanted nothing more than to hug that small child and cheer it up.
But suddenly, Frisk looked up bursting into tears. The child run up to Mettaton and hugged him before either of the skeleton could do something. Hurrying around his brother, Papyrus got as fast as he could to the girls side and tried to comfort the crying child as good as he could.
Sans right eye lost the blue color as he relaxed slightly watching them. Yet sweat was forming on the back of his skull as he thought back on what just happened. He really hoped for everything he held dear that he only imaged what he had seen. He shook his skull and watched how Alphys finally joined them and instantly consoled the child and confirmed for her several times that Mettaton was indeed only out of battery and alive.
The short skeleton did not once take his eyes of the now sniffling Frisk who stepped away from the robot to make room for Alphys. The childs eyes were in that closed like state again and when Sans took a closer look he was glad to see that they were their warm chocolate brown.
He chuckled lightly at his own paranoia. It was probably the last static visions fault that he thought he saw Frisk eyes glowing red.