บท 64: Chapter 64
Mettaton sat at his vanity in his ghost form while his body was recharging against the wall. He stared down at his phone and researched articles on the undernet about parenting while Frisk sat on the edge of the tub and replied to the replies of the messages he sent out before he had "emptied his bladder's contents."
Sans responded right away. He had seen Mettaton's broadcast on the beach. He told him that Papyrus and Undyne were alright, that everything would be alright, that Toriel had a plan, and that Frisk needed to stay calm and to control his violent outbursts as much as he could so Mettaton wouldn't make an excuse to put Frisk with the psychiatrists sooner.
The slower response came from Napstablook. Frisk had begged him to intervene, to try to talk his cousin out of his insane plan, to come to his aid. Napstablook was responding. The three dots on his end kept pulsing, so Frisk figured he was typing a long message or he kept rewriting the same message repeatedly.
Frisk looked up and stared back out the window. He felt like his pulse was going at the speed of light. He knew he was panicking, but he couldn't possibly lay that burden on Sans, Papyrus, or anyone else. At least, his pride and guilt wouldn't let him. He sighed deeply. He longed to be back at the house enjoying the quiet morning he was earlier. It already felt so far away.
Unfortunately, that was when Frisk noticed the mirror. He walked over to it and looked it over. It was nothing special, just a square piece of glass attached to the wall. It looked almost exactly like the mirror he had tried to use the other day…
Frisk reached out, touched it with the tips of his fingers, and pondered. Just the other day, everything was so different. It was amazing when he thought about it. Before, he was alone. Before, he had to hide his heart from everyone. Before, the only one who knew of his past sins was Flowey. Before, he had given up. Before, his determination was strong, but his soul had lost its reason. Before, he had tried to take his own life…
Frisk smiled sadly and pulled his fingers back. Everything was going so well. He had a family again. He had real love in his life again. He was finally finding happiness in his life. But now, everything was wrong. All because he wanted to help.
Frisk's sad eyes filled with more tears as his mind continued to dwell on the dark thoughts. He never seemed to succeed whenever he tried to do something for someone else.
He tried resetting time until he could grant his friends freedom. That failed.
He tried making them breakfast. That kinda failed.
He tried to make enough money to put his new family in a good place financially. That failed miserably.
But worse of all, Frisk had tried to get his friends away from Mettaton. Now, two of the people he loved the most were in danger. All because of him.
"Maybe they're wrong," Frisk whispered to himself. "Maybe I really am useless."
Frisk pulled off his sweater and just held it in a bundle in his arms for a while. It would be so easy. He was fast. He could act before Mettaton could stop him. Then, he wouldn't be a burden on anyone else's life anymore.
That was when he heard His voice again.
"Frisk, sit down," the still, small voice said. "You're so weary. You need to rest."
Frisk obeyed without much thought. He sat down on top of the toilet and looked out the window again while clutching the sweater to his chest.
"Why would you want to end everything?" He said gently while Frisk shed a few more tears. "You've found happiness again."
"All I do is make people miserable," Frisk whispered out loud with tears falling more quickly. "First, Allie, then the Underground, now my friends. I can never seem to do anything right."
"You're not the only one ever to feel this way," the Almighty said. "Remember the warrior in the ancient scriptures, he was fleeing for his life from a king who couldn't accept that I made him his replacement. His heart was full of sorrow, sometimes because of his own sin, mostly because of his circumstances. Do you know how he dealt with his pain? I'll give you a clue. He wasn't quiet about it."
"I remember. He wrote poems and songs and shared them with others…"
"David was an artist. Just like you."
"I'm no artist…"
"You think I'm wrong about what I made?"
"You can't be wrong. That's impossible."
"Then?"
Frisk thought for a moment and said, "Okay…"
Frisk dropped his sweater on the floor, opened the notes app and typed his prose. The words started flowing slowly at first, but surprisingly quickly, the words started to flow like water. Very soon, he had a good page of prose going, and unexpectedly, Frisk found himself feeling better.
"You're not bad," He said.
"You're right," Frisk whispered with a smile. "I'm not."
"You should send this to Napstablook. I think he'd like to see it. You should send it to Sans and Papyrus, too."
"Are you sure? It's kind of sad…"
"Absolutely. It makes them sadder to not know how you're feeling."
"Okay, if you say so…"
Frisk sent his note to Napstablook, Sans, and to Papyrus and Undyne's group chat.
Unfortunately, that was when he saw Napstablook's reply, "Frisk, I want to help. I really do, but Hapsta is a different ghost than he used to be. He won't listen to me."
Frisk grimaced, but before he could think of a reply, he heard the door to the dressing room open and heard Mettaton say, "Hello? Dr. Alphys?! How did you get in here?"
Frisk cracked open the door and saw that Dr. Alphys was standing in the door looking nervous and that Mettaton was greeting her in his ghostly form.
"Wh-Where is he?" Alphys asked anxiously.
"Where is who?" Mettaton asked coyly.
"You know who I'm talking about," Alphys asked with a bit more courage behind her voice. "The human child. S-Sans and ev-everyone else are worried sick about him…"
"They are? Well, they have no need to be, Alphys…" Mettaton began.
"I'm right here!" Frisk yelled in the doorway of the bathroom before darting over to Alphys' side as quickly as he could and looking at her with pleading eyes. "Alphys, get me out of here. Please. He's a complete jackass who's ruining everything."
"Hey!" Mettaton said crossing his arms. "I take offense to that. You're just mad because I put you in timeout."
"I was in that situation in the first place because you're a jackass," Frisk said narrowing his gaze.
Alphys awkwardly held Frisk's hand to calm him down and said, "Hey! Don't worry. I'll get you out of this."
Then she looked at Mettaton and said, "Mettaton, how…how could you pull something like this? You knew that Frisk had a family already. Why would you try to steal him? What's the matter with you?"
Mettaton delivered a derisive smile and said, "Oh, that's something, coming from the one who wanted to put the child in danger just to be a part of his story…"
"I called that plan off and you know it!" Alphys said defensively. "You're the one who just couldn't leave him alone! You have no right to take Frisk from his family! I'm taking him back with me, and you're going to call this whole thing off right now!"
Mettaton quickly repossessed his body, unplugged himself from the wall, walked over to Alphys, looked down at her arrogantly, and said, "Or what, good doctor?"
Alphys took a deep breath, gathered her nerve, and said, "I'll…I'll take your body back!"
Frisk could tell that that response shook Mettaton to his core. For the first time in recent memory, he saw Mettaton's eyes flash with panic. It brought back an unpleasant memory...
"Good doctor, you can't…" Mettaton pleaded bringing Frisk's mind back to the presence.
"I will," Alphys said smiling with her new-found power. "I'll deactivate it and take it all back if you don't call the adoption off and give Frisk back to his family. So, what will it be?"
Mettaton looked down in resignation and said, "I suppose I have no choice."
He tapped his foot on the ground and created a portal under Alphys and Frisk for them to fall through. They fell through and landed on a bed in a room with walls painted light pink.
"What is this place?" Alphys asked as the trapdoor disappeared above them.
Frisk looked around and saw the diaries sitting on the floor. His eyes flashed in a panic as he realized exactly where they were.
"Alphys, we have to go! We're…" was all Frisk could get out before a familiar gloved hand covered his mouth.
"Hush, dear," Mettaton said as he picked Frisk up from behind without moving the glove from his mouth. "We wouldn't want to ruin the surprise now. Would we?"
Frisk tried yelling the answer and squirming out of his grip, but Mettaton held Frisk tightly and wouldn't let go.
"Mettaton, what-?" Alphys asked as she climbed off the bed and moved towards him.
"I'm sorry, dear doctor," Mettaton said with a slight trace of regret. "I really do appreciate everything you've done for me. I wouldn't be where I am without you. But the show must go on, and it can't go on unless my new son is with me. So, I'll leave you here, behind a door that cannot be unlocked without a key. The bathroom's in that corner over there, and the television should still work. I promise I'll let you out later when the show is over, Dr. Alphys. But for now, if you'll excuse me, my son and I have to deal with a custody battle…"
Before Alphys could respond, Mettaton and Frisk fell through another trapdoor and landed back in the dressing room leaving Alphys alone.
Frisk tried looking back at her once Mettaton finally put him down to enter the bathroom, but the trapdoor had already shut.
"It's about time to go, darling," Mettaton said pulling Frisk's sweater back on over his head as if nothing had happened. "Jazz yourself up. This obstacle course should be exciting…"
"How could you betray her like that?" Frisk angrily asked. "She's your friend. She helped you. You can't just leave her like that.
Mettaton's expression grew stern as he quickly crouched down to Frisk's eye level, cupped his hands around his face, looked into his anxious eyes, and said, "That is not up for discussion, darling. Now, I need you to focus on the task at hand. Hold still and let me fix your hair really fast."
Mettaton pulled a comb out of nowhere and started brushing Frisk's messy hair furiously.
Frisk stood indignantly for a moment before replying, "You know this won't stop her, right? I know about her. She's smart. She'll figure something out."
Mettaton shrugged and said, "I don't doubt it, dear, but it will slow her down, especially considering she's never been to my old home before. The show will be over by the time she gets back."
"That's cold," Frisk retorted.
"That's show biz, darling," Mettaton said with a sly smirk as he combed out the last tangle. "There, much better. Your makeup doesn't look the best, but I should have thought about fixing that earlier. You're ready to go. Wait…"
Mettaton stood up and walked into the bathroom.
Frisk didn't waste any time. He bolted out the door and ran down the hall until he reached a spare dressing room at the end. Once Frisk found it and looked around to make sure Mettaton wasn't following him, he locked the door behind him and ran into the bathroom.
Mettaton walked out of the bathroom with the water bottle in his hand after a full five minutes of admiring his body in the mirror.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Frisk," Mettaton said posing dramatically shortly before noticing his child was gone…again. "I was just…"
After a moment of frustrated silence, Mettaton took his phone from its charger and realized that they had only four minutes until showtime.
"Idiot," Mettaton quietly said to himself while dialing a number. "Of course, he was going to run away. You didn't even bother to lock the dressing room door."
The number rang, and Burgerpants picked up at the other end.
"Hello?" Burgerpants asked.
"Hello, Burgie," Mettaton said flamboyantly. "I'd like to order a missing child! Get back here and help me find him please! Where are you?"
"We're still on the beach where you left us," Burgerpants replied. "We've just been talking and…"
"Perfect," Mettaton interrupted before creating a trapdoor with his feet, popping out right next to them, and landing in a dramatic pose. "Come along, Burgie. We've gotta find my rebellious son. Would you like to come with us, River?"
Burgerpants was dumbfounded for a moment before he looked back at River pleadingly.
The latter replied, "Yes, I would love to help my friend."
"Wonderful," Mettaton said whilst creating a portal large enough for all of them to fall through and land in the studio hallways.
Burgerpants used his telekinesis to break his and his friend's fall.
Once he lowered them to the ground, Mettaton said, "Split up and search this floor. I'll look outside. Whoever finds him first gets a bonus. Now, hop to it, gentlebeauties!"
Mettaton disappeared through a trapdoor that landed him outside where he began to search around the outside of the building while unbeknownst to him River and Burgerpants started searching the halls together.
Meanwhile, back at his pathetic house, Napstablook was staring at the page of prose that Frisk had sent him.
He read, "I look at myself and see the mirror.
I don't like what I see, but I won't give up.
I can't, but I really want to.
It would be easy.
Breaking a mirror is easy.
Using the glass shards is even easier.
I think the world would be better off.
I think I only cause problems.
I think I'm not useful to anybody.
But I know that's not true.
He says I'm not, and He does not lie.
So, I make myself keep going.
And one day, I know I'll see what He sees when I look at my reflection."
Tears fell out of Napstablook's eyes. His eyes could not leave the words. His mind could not leave them either…
But suddenly, Napstablook heard a noise coming from the empty house next to his. That forced his attention to go away from the phone. Despite his usually timid nature, something made him decide to investigate
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