Chapter Text
Susie was stubborn.
Her hand had been bandaged up by Kris the day prior, the night she split her knuckles on the glass- she had called out to Kris from their window, and as she walked away, they jumped out of it, stumbling with bandages in their hands, insistently wrapping her wounds. As if they were telling her it’d be alright, too, after what she saw.
But that didn’t matter. After the festival, Susie aimed straight down past the church to the shelter, dead-set on trying to get it open. Just… anything. She needed to do something. So, she buckled down, and started inputting codes numerically.
She wasn’t a puzzle solver, so brute force was the way to go.
…
Kris wasn’t stupid.
They knew Susie, they knew their best friend- so, naturally, they tracked her down after the festival. It’d been a long, long, ungodly day of adventures, and they were exhausted, but the soul eased up on the strings pulling at their limbs, and they dragged themself to where they knew Susie’d be.
They were quiet at first. Kris had mastered the talent of stealth when they were maybe five- always sneaking a treat or stealing a trinket from their brother. So, they kept themselves light on their feet, until they were just out of range of a punch from Susie.
They cleared their throat. Susie gasped and, instinctively, as expected, threw a punch- before stopping herself, staring at Kris and panting.
“YOU FUCKING DUMBASS!” She growled through gritted teeth. “I almost just obliterated your skull!”
Kris shrugged, and looked to the shelter- to which Susie followed their gaze. With a sigh, she ran her hands down her face, rolling her eyes.
“This shits impossible, there's gotta be at least like…a bajillion combinations it could be.”
“Around three hundred thousand.” Kris muttered flatly and quietly. Susie blinked at them, and stared back at the padlock.
“Uh,” She choked. “…real shit?”
Kris huffed a little, smiling to themself, and gently grabbed Susie's hand, looking over the bandages they set over it last night. They saw her hand twitch for a second, before being yanked back.
“Don’t touch that, man.” She huffed. “I’m fine. Ralsei healed it earlier today during our adventure, remember?”
Kris tilted their head, and pointed at the bandages.
“I’M STILL WEARING THEM BECAUSE IT LOOKS COOL, DUMBASS!” Susie snarled back. “God, you’re such a nag, sometimes, I’m f-“
Something cracked in one of the bushes nearby, and they both jumped, whirling around to face it.
Glowing eyes were all they saw before a dark figure took off towards the town.
“SHIT-!” Susie gasped out, scrambling away from the keypad. “Kris, you don’t think that was…?”
Kris felt their stomach drop. Before they could say anything, Susie grabbed them by the wrist, taking off in a dead sprint after them.
“HEY! GET BACK HERE!”
…
Mettaton was lonely.
He was lonely living with his cousins, lonely living in a town full of people, and lonely with himself.
Mettaton had always been lonely, hungry for more, but terrified of touching the light- for what if it burned? What if it changed him in a way he couldn't stand? What if he could never go back? And if he could never go back, would he still be loved? Could he love himself, even?
…and yet, all that seemed to fade away, watching TV.
He’d only had dear Tenna for a day- around 24 hours, now- late at night, two teenagers showed up at his door with a CRT, insisting he was good, even if he had some water damage, poor thing must've been left out in the rain. Sure, the colors were weird, the signal was a bit staticky, the antennas were basically held together by tape, scratches lined the casing and there was a small crack in the glass here and there…but he was a lovely TV.
Mettaton found it hard to look away from the broadcasts Tenna was showing him. To him, it was more than just a music video- it felt like he was being seen for the first time. Like something was reaching through the screen, looking at his very soul, and calling it beautiful. He had fallen asleep to it, as if the warm static glow of the tv was curling around him with a purr, telling him it’d be alright.
He hadn’t felt that way in a long time.
So, he kept watching. All through the festival, he kept watching, talking to Tenna as if he were real, taking every flicker and whine from the old thing as a response, like one would a pet.
He yawned from the couch, wondering if it’d be alright if he just…fell asleep there again. It couldn’t hurt, right? Even if his cousins would judge him in the morning.
“Tenna, Darling, you must stop keeping me up like this.” He sighed out, tilting his head. “Certainly you need a rest, too, don’t you?”
He could’ve sworn the screen got brighter. He chuckled a bit.
“Well, if you insist.” He purred, adjusting to lay down. “Such a little attention lover, aren’t you?”
Then, the sound of scuttering somewhere. Mettaton sat up, blinking, but didn’t say anything. He’d always had a flair for the dramatic, surely it was from the show he was watching?
There was more rustling. Mettaton blinked.
“Look at me, getting worked up over nothing. Perhaps Maddy's got a point in me being crazy, haha!”
And then the door slammed open.
Mettaton couldn't tell what the figure was- all he saw were antlers, and a lanky, dark body, dragging itself inside.
“What-“ Mettaton's voice left him for a moment. Perhaps this was a nightmare, then! Shouldn't've watched that slasher earlier! “Who the hell are you!? Get out of my house!”
The thing dragged itself forward, body moving in a limp, odd way that Mettaton could only describe as uncanny. It shuffled about, and looked to the TV.
“Did you hear me!?” Mettaton shouted. He was fucked, his cousins could sleep through anything! “I SAID GET AWAY FROM ME!”
The TV had turned to static, and Mettaton's breathing got faster.
“Please- please I jus-“
The figure kept its gaze on the TV, and Mettaton took it as a chance to fling the nearest object at the attacker.
…which turned out to be a pillow.
“… fuck-“
In the distance, he could hear voices shouting, getting closer. When the attacker turned to look at him, Mettaton let out a cry.
“SOMEONE! HELP ME! PLEASE!”
Though, instead of attacking, the beast reached a hand out, and set it on the back of the TV.
With a grin, they pushed it off the stand.
…
It’s so cold.
That was the last clear thought Tenna had in that field of snow, which had followed the thoughts of Oh god, it hurts. And Oh god, I’m going to die alone.
He had tumbled out of view, down a snowy hill, flecks of white and static following him, and he had no idea why it was so much faster than the other times he had fallen over or rolled down something in previous breakdowns or moments of passing out- his shoulders usually made it so he’d stop faster, but instead, he rolled down and down until he was covered in ice and a hot, sticky liquid that was quickly turning cold.
He had to of passed out on the way down, because he was in a slightly different position than when he last checked, static around the edges of his vision and throbbing. He didn’t know what this feeling was, it was more than anything he’d ever felt before, wasn’t he just happy? Wasn’t he just thrilled?
He had just been so full of hope, what happened?
He struggled in a breath, not quite knowing why he was struggling. Why would he be? He never let himself struggle with that, what with his own voice training and practice measuring out his breaths for performance. So, why now? He struggled in another weak sip of air, chest trembling as he did so.
What's happening? He had thought. He couldn’t wrap his boxy head around it, static ebbing and flowing in front of his vision as he tried to focus. His screen felt cracked- and the adrenaline from panic started to sluggishly well up- as if his body couldn't manage the real deal like he was used to. He tried to breathe again, getting frustrated at how hard it was. Then, he saw it.
A few feet in front of him, a red sleeve- not empty. In fact…
It had his arm in it, and he suddenly became very, very aware of how he couldn’t feel either of them anymore.
And then the pain hit him.
It blasted through both sides of him like a bullet, and he cried out in pain- shocked by his own garbled and staticky voice. He tried to cry out louder, trying to form words in his mouth, but his body didn’t cooperate with him, only ending up with him making another pained groan glitching out in his throat. He tried to breathe instead, and the air that exited him was a shuddery sob. Another, and another exited him, pain enveloping him and surrounding him, swallowing him whole.
The scent of static choked him, overwhelming his senses and pulling a gag out of him. He muttered something, assuming they were curses, internally wincing that the censors would kill him, before.
Oh god, he felt it ring against his boxy head. Oh god, I’m gonna die.
He choked back another breath, and tried to scream out for help this time, begging someone, anyone to come for him. It was a strangled cry, audio peaking and cutting out, and he tried again.
But nobody came.
Oh god, it hurts. Came next as a thought, overwhelming him and pulling him under. Everything was throbbing. He felt the cold liquid static surrounding him freezing against his suit, but the wounds on his shoulders were red-hot. Any move he made sent a jolt through him that made him dry-heave. Tenna wasn’t innocent, and he wasn’t stupid. He knew he’d choke if he threw up laying on his back. So instead, be kept trying to take deep breaths, but none of them were deep enough. In fact, they were quick, and while his consciousness was getting blurrier and blurrier, he could notice he was hyperventilating.
With more effort than he could afford, he braced himself, and moved his head to the side, still struggling to breathe, hoping it'd be a start- but he instantly regretted it, once again making eye contact with his disembodied arm laying abandoned in the snow. His breathing got faster, and the static started crawling in.
Oh god, I’m gonna die alone. Came next. He realized he was already crying, but a sob rammed through him harder than he wanted to allow. Part of him, some small part of him knew this would happen. Just…not like this.
He had envisioned Toriel holding him before tossing him into the trash. He didn’t expect to be bleeding out into the snow. He didn’t expect to be murdered by someone he trusted.
The knight promised him it would be alright- why did he listen why did he even believe-
Without his permission, his old partner's face flashed through his mind, making his vision glitch out for a moment. He was always the fool, always the idiot who believed people when they said they loved him, cared about him, wouldn't leave him- and now he was dying alone. Another sob rolled out of him, and then another, and another.
Previously, he heard voices- shouting and arguing- god it's always arguing, but now it had turned to silence. He couldn't hear anything over the wind and static.
He could, almost, just almost imagine that damn mailman kneeling next to him, placing his hands on the frame of his face and wiping some snow away. The concept made him sob further. Because he couldn't have it. He could never reach that.
His hyperventilating had slowed to a shallow panting- he wasn’t calming down, he knew he wasn’t calming down, his heart, pumping mechanically inside his chest, only got faster, but he couldn’t keep up. He couldn’t. The static surrounding him cooled against the snow where it previously burned into it- and he could feel himself stop overheating.
Instead, he started to feel nothing, and then…
It’s so cold.
It was freezing. He didn’t have the strength to shiver about it, however, and instead kept trying to breathe- having to manually focus on the task, but it slipped. Around him, the snow and static got blurrier and blurrier, turning into colors and shapes.
The sky was black, but it was so bright, surrounded by the freezing white snow. He could almost picture his studio room, so he did, mind morphing around him and enveloping him. He was cold because he passed out on the floor again. He was cold because he spent too long outside pacing. He was cold because it was winter and he was waiting with baited breath to show his family the holiday specials.
Oh, he wanted nothing more than to show a holiday special. He tried to conjure one up, struggling. Blurry in his head, less words and more abstract, Tenna thought, no, felt the concept of they’re waiting, Tenna! The whole family, and their friends! They've got their pie ready, just put on a show! Their favorite, put one on!
He could feel his screen flick about, stuttering. He didn’t have it in him when it stammered out a garbled holiday song about a reindeer not belonging, being a misfit . Oh, Kris and Noelle both loved that one…they used to act it out together in front of him, Tenna happily singing along.
He could feel his screen shutting off, flickering in and out like a yoyo going up and down, struggling as his consciousness started to get pulled under. He didn’t know what that red thing in front of him was, a scarf, maybe? It was so cold, after all.
Soon, that blurry, blurry scarf began to fade from his vision, blurring more and darkening.
He heard speaking, but it thudded against his antennas like nothing. He was pretty sure one of them was broken.
The voice got closer, and he still didn’t understand it, but soon he saw the blurriest of movement. He tried to pull the name of the color he saw striding towards him, but nothing came up. A relaxing color, one that spoke quietly…one that wrapped about the stems of flowers. Maybe the holidays had already passed, and spring was blooming forth from the snow.
And yet, he was still cold.
Still, despite no blanket, he attempted to go to sleep. His brain was begging for him to, after all. How much did he push himself, this time? He’d surely regret whatever happened when he woke up again, but that was a problem for tomorrow's him.
He could feel himself falling into sleep, and the figure got closer, a soft, trembling voice thudding uselessly against his boxy head. Big, round glasses came into view on a white face, and he decided to shut his screen off to get some sleep. A good host needed rest, after all.
“Ten-!” The voice called. “Mr. Tenna-!”
But he was already asleep.
…
“…-stablized him, ff- for n-now, but- he’s-“ a voice, a trembling voice, like the one he heard before, interrupted his sleep. “M-my- my mana-“
“Don’t worry-“ a rougher, louder voice interrupted the first. “I got- I got some, and- and I brought, brought some folks t- to help.”
“I-is that," the voice from before quivered. “Is that. Duct tape??”
“Look, smartass! It’s the best we got! These guys said it helps, r-right?”
He could hear the distant sound of a saxophone, and he huffed a bit.
Please just let me go back to sleep. He’d crinkle his face if it were on right now. Let me sleep.
“J-just, l-lemme, lemme grab his…”
“Oh, Susie- you shouldn’t have to-“
“I’m FINE! I can handle some-“ he could almost hear her swallow. “Some carnage. I-I’m not pathetic, man. I-I just…”
He could hear a shaky breath.
“It’s. Um. A lot.”
Still, footsteps faded into his hearing, the crunching of snow, making him realize just how cold he was. Still, he didn’t have it in him to shiver. He tried to fall asleep again, when he just barely felt something against his shoulder.
It…it hurt, but he could barely feel it right now. He didn’t want to.
“Susie, that's- um.” The first voice started. “That's the wrong arm.”
“…shit. Whoops. They’re kinda…”
“Yeah.”
“They’re kinda scattered.”
He had no idea what those two were on about, but he felt something press against his other side, now- just as painful- and a sharp gasp was pulled from his chest.
“M-mr. Tenna?” The first voice trembled. “Are- are you awake?”
I’m trying to sleep! He tried to answer, but instead a pained moan escaped him, trembling in his chest. He tried to breathe around the agony that was slowly coming into focus, but his breathing came out in pants instead.
“Hey, Tenna, it- you’ll be okay, got it?” The second voice rasped. “I- this might hurt, but- but I’m keeping my promise, okay? You’ll be alright.”
He didn’t fully understand why, but a sob was pulled out of his chest. He didn’t know how to stop it. A hand pressed gently against the top of his head.
“Just- just stay still, okay?”
He hoped his shuttered breathing was enough of an answer, because he couldn’t give anything more. Instead, he felt something press further into his wound he was now aware of, and he gasped, trying not to move away from it.
“Hurts-“ he choked, begged, even.
“I-I know, Mr. Tenna, but we’re helping, okay? It-“ The first voice said. “We’re trying to help, just, just stay still.”
He could hear the sound of something ripping, causing him to flinch, but didn’t feel anything actually tear. Suddenly, something was plastered atop his wound, connecting his shoulder to something else, and…Susie, he could recognize her now, drew in a deep breath.
“Okay, okay, this- this might hurt, T-Tenna. Th…that's what they told me, b-but it- it’ll help, okay?”
He didn’t have it in him to nod still, but he didn’t protest.
And suddenly, white-hot pain sparked in his shoulder socket, burning him inside out and snapping into him like a bullet, pulling a genuine scream out of him.
With a newfound adrenaline, he kicked his legs, digging them against the snow, and his screen flickered on for a moment, showing him a blur of purple and green and black and white. Another, far smaller scream whirred from his chest, and it lowered into whimpering, and then panting. The last thing he saw before his vision faded away again was a concerned look from Susie.
“S-sorry! Are you- are you okay?” She cried out from the nothingness that surrounded him. She followed it up with “well, okay, obviously not- stupid question, I-“
She paused, and he could hear her get up, and grunt as she walked back over.
“Just- just one more, and then we- uh, we’re gonna fix your antenna, okay?” She rasped. Tenna struggled with his swirling mind, not fully understanding what she was saying, but she seemed to take his silence as a response. “Ralsei, how's- how's your mana? I don’t think I can-“
“I-I can, I can help with this, and then, then you should focus on that antenna in the light world, okay?”
“B-but he’s-“
“You’ll bring him to Castle Town after, right? In the morning? I-Ill, I’ll heal what we couldn’t here, he needs- he needs to rest after this.”
“…but…” Susie sounded so guilty, so devastated, and god if Tenna didn’t want to wrap around her protectively about it, try to distract her, crack a joke, anything.
He shuttered, and with as much of his strength that he could muster, turned his screen onto the monster movie channel. It was blurry and fuzzy, probably more static than anything, but he could hear Susie take in a small breath, and then a laugh.
“Right, fine, dumbass. Just. You’ll be better soon, Tenna, okay?”
Tenna shut his screen off. He couldn’t keep it up, he hoped it came across as some kind of response.
“Alright. Stay still, it’ll…” Susie rasped. “It’ll be over soon.”
Tenna pondered that statement, with what little processing power he had. She was right, in some way. If he didn’t survive this, at least the pain would be gone.
He could feel something taping his arm closer to his socket, and then…
White hot pain coursed through him, and he passed out.
…
Well, he wasn’t wrong.
After all that, after the dull hum of struggling to keep consciousness to view the Light World, Susie quietly trying to tape up his antenna, Tenna just barely heard it.
“Well, that's quite alright! It's about time we get a new TV, anyways!”
His heart sped up, and he passed out.
The next time he came to, light poured in from the windows, and he saw Kris waking up, dragging themself over to the table, and eating pancakes with Susie.
Please just smile at me. Please. Please-
But he lost consciousness again, and when he managed to pull himself together, the morning light outside faded, and he heard rain.
“Well,” Toriel sighed, walking over, and Tenna woke up a little more. “You were a good TV while you lasted.”
Immediately, Tenna felt a rush of affection, before his heart sunk. You were a good TV. While you lasted.
Oh god. God, god god god please no, no- no!
He couldn't do a single thing as he was lifted into Toriel's arms, and unplugged.
…
The rain was the hardest to remember. He could feel the blanket over him get more and more wet, weighing down coldly, until it started seeping in.
His thoughts, blurry with pain, only got more and more feverish, swirling into a loop of agony.
What did I do? Please tell me what I did. Please come back. Please don’t leave me. I’ll do anything for you. I’ll do whatever it takes, no matter how much it hurts. I love you so much, I can’t live without you. Please just come back, I promise I can be better, I promise I can be perfect just for you, just give me another chance. Please. Please, I need you. I need you more than I’ve ever needed anything. Please just come back. What did I even do? I’m sorry! What did I do?
And yet, it rained on, and he only got colder.
…
He came to in the Dark World, small, in Susie's arms.
The first thing he felt was a full-body shiver going through him, and he grit his chattering teeth. He could barely, just barely remember being outside, freezing, rain pouring on him and getting into his circuits. He could also remember being picked up, begging please god, please don't be the trash people.
“Sss…S-Sus…ie…?” He just barely managed out, awake enough to feel a little embarrassed by how badly he was shivering.
“Hey, you ol box.” Susie rasped, “I promised we’d save you, didn’t I?”
Tenna wanted to start sobbing his eyes out. He wanted to scream, he wanted to go back to sleep.
Instead, he sneezed, and shivered.
“S-sorry,”
“Dude, you were out in the rain! Of course you’re cold!” Susie said. “Lets get you to an Ambyu-Lance! C’mon!”
…
Everything else was quite blurry for Tenna. He had been repaired more properly by a darkner- getting some soldering done while his insides were dried out by laying in a warm tub of rice, trying to calm his trembling, not think about everything that had just happened- because he couldn’t cry in front of this random darkner. He couldn’t cry in front of someone from Cyber World, or anyone- he couldn’t let them see how far he had fallen without-
Ralsei eventually showed up, helping to heal him- his antenna was floppy, and his screen still had a crack or two on it, and he felt a cold going through his body from the rain, but he could stay awake.
Despite this, he was so, so tired.
…
When he woke up, Susie was standing over him with a big, goofy grin.
“Hey dumbass,” She said. She was, frankly, a mess- her hair was less brushed than usual, she had scrapes and bruises all over her, her knuckles were wrapped in bandages, but she still was grinning. “Guess who found you a home.”
…
Mettaton was nice to him- he didn’t want to admit it, but he was nicer than some of the Dreemurrs were to him, however he was likely getting ahead of himself. Still, it was nice to be talked to, nice to be treated with respect, nice to be watched…
Oh god, he was being watched again- lovingly watched, like he was new- even with his water damage, even with his bent antenna and messed up signal, even with his odd colors-
It was too good to be true. And that was confirmed the second the knight walked into the house.
They call it the present because it was a gift, and he never felt more like it was a punishment.
When the knight looked at him, the scene felt like it lasted an eternity. Perhaps, if you don’t have the rest of your life left, then that tracks, right? There’s no more future, just the present. Of course it lasted forever, it was all you were.
The knight got closer.
Please no- please don’t do this-
And closer.
Please! Please god I thought this was over! What was I supposed to do!? Just let her rot!? I could never do that to her! Even if that's what they all did t- I could never do that. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone else- Please just understand-
And closer.
PLEASE- please I was just- He scrambled inside his own head. Please! I just found someone- I can’t lose this, I can’t- I thought I finally was safe, I thought I finally-
And then the Knight pushed him off the TV stand.
I don’t want to die- He could see the ground getting closer. I DON’T WANT TO DIE!
CRASH.
A flash, just a moment of some of the most agonizing pain he had ever felt in his life, before…
FWOOOM!
Loud, he didn’t know why death was so loud, but man was it loud . It was dark, too- darker than dark, and he felt a pressure building up directly in front of him. He braced, knowing he was going to die any second, waiting for it all to go away, for him to never come back, before-
Suddenly, it was like he was being electrocuted and injected with adrenaline at the exact same time. If he had a mouth, he would’ve screamed.
He did hear screaming- he didn’t know if it was from himself, or anyone else around him- but it was loud. It was loud, and dark, and everything was burning with a sudden energy he had never felt before. He could feel himself buzz and spasm, and suddenly…
…he could see again, and instead of being on the floor, he was high up in the air. Questioning this, he looked around, and noticed he could move, feeling himself lift up one of his feet and set it back down in a stumbling motion, trying to keep upright. Upright, he was upright- why was he upright?! The room was still dark, the darkness dissipating as he tried to get himself to focus. He felt his hearing start to fade back in over the ringing.
“WHERE’D THEY GO-”
“Susie-”
“THEY WERE JUST HERE- DAMMIT! WE ALMOST HAD TH-”
“Susie.”
“WHAT- …the… fuck?”
Tenna blinked away some more darkness from his view, struggling to adjust, and lit his screen up, noticing Susie and Kris staring up at him, just as shocked as he was. Nearby, Mettaton’s mouth was agape.
Able to see a little more properly now, Tenna looked down at himself, noticing his gloves and suit- his body. Despite the fact that he was, as far as he knew, still in the Light World.
Bewildered was probably a fitting word for how he felt about this. Completely, utterly bewildered. Still, no one was talking, and Tenna hated dead air.
“...Well, folks! Looks like we have a surprise guest star!”
…