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[Trapped.]

[That's right. He had talked with Papyrus about it before. It's not like this is news. But somehow, the way Mettaton puts it...]

[Well, it doesn't sound like a casual truth as much as "we were stuck in a veritable prison and had to make do with what we could".]

[They were isolated from the world at large. It doesn't sound particularly bad to Keats - he enjoyed his own isolation when he could get it - but he had the freedom to leave whenever he wanted. The monsters in Mettaton's world didn't.]

[He can understand it better, now.]

You were their glittering, golden beacon of hope and entertainment. [He says, a hint amused, though it sounds more fond than not.]

I mean, I don't watch movies and the television all that often, but even I know how vital something like that is in a dark period of time when there's little to nothing to go on. Any entertainment is. I mean, a lot of the stories we know today often came about during times of despair and darkness.

[He leans his cheek on his hand.]

That sounds like quite the role. [A small smile.] I'm guessing you had quite a lot of viewers, back home.

Edited 2017-04-17 01:02 (UTC)

[Ah, there's that stupid burning feeling in his core again. He hates it. It doesn't need to happen every time someone decides his validate him for his selflessness, but here we are. The lights on his screen briefly form a heart as a hand gets placed against his "cheek."

It's brief because the next statement is that.

The lights dim.]

...DO YOU WANT THE TRUTH?

[He knows Keats is going to say "yes", but here's hoping something possess that horrible brain of his to make him have mercy.]

["The truth?"]

[He shrugs.]

I would like to know, but...I'm not going to force you.

[Just like Mettaton hasn't really forced the truth out of him (except being persistent but he doesn't count that). He's not here to interrogate Mettaton at all.]

...

[What.

Mettaton pushes himself out of his chair and wheels himself over to Keats' side. He leans in, pushing strands of hair away from his ear.]

TARAXA, DEAR, I'M GOING TO NEED YOU TO LEAVE THIS PLACE. THERE'S NOTHING BUT BITTERNESS IN THERE ANYHOW, YOU'RE GOING TO STARVE.

Oh, come on, Mettaton!

[HE'S NOT INFECTED WITH A PARASITE BECAUSE HE'S SURPRISINGLY DECENT, METTATON!]

I mean, yes, of course I'd like to know, I'm curious to a fault, but I mean, when you were getting me to reveal things, I just...

[He lets out a loud, frustrated sigh as he pushes himself away.]

I thought how I would feel if I was being forced to say something I didn't want and...I-I just thought you wouldn't like that, either.

[KEATS HAS LEVELED UP TO LEVEL 2 OF SOCIAL INTERACTION: PUTTING YOURSELF IN OTHER PEOPLE'S SHOES. A REAL MIRACLE.]

PFT.

[Okay, now he knows Keats is gone. This is some sweet, self-aware replacement that actually manages to show a shred of decency.

Mettaton leans in further, as if he still had lips. His screen doesn't touch the man, but a brief spark leaves it, light and gentle, to strike Keats' cheek.

It's what he has in this form, okay?

He rolls himself back to his chair. Somehow, the consideration makes him feel safe enough to answer. How pathetic, huh?]

TRUTH BE TOLD? ...NO. I DIDN'T HAVE A LOT OF VIEWERS. I WORKED EVERY HOUR OF EVERY DAY, BUT. WELL, NOT EVERYONE APPRECIATES THAT.

[If he had a head, he'd be tilting it. Blooky cared. Those callers cared. Papyrus cared...]

SOME DID.

[Another shrug.]

EVENTUALLY, YOU LEARN THAT THAT'S ENOUGH.

Edited 2017-04-17 01:25 (UTC)

[The Shred of Decency you have bought will now last for the next 30 minutes. When it runs out, you can either buy another one with a miracle or wait for an entire year until another one occurs.]

[Keats' eyes widen at the little jolt of electricity, and he reaches up a hand to rub at that place.]

What? You?

[For the way he acted, Keats could scarcely think that he wasn't the most popular person where he came from.]

I can't believe it. Why?

Edited 2017-04-17 01:51 (UTC)

[Oh, this fool... Ugh. Now Mettaton knows he's gotten too attached - even that honest disbelief makes him feel like he's melting.]

OH, YOU KNOW HOW THE STORY GOES: HE'S TOO CONCEITED. HE'S TOO LOUD. HE SHOULD BE DOING SOMETHING BETTER WITH HIS TIME. WHO CARES ABOUT HIM? HE'S JUST A ROBOT.

I'M NOT STUPID. I'VE HEARD EVERY REASON IN THE BOOK. IT'S JUST BETTER TO CHALK IT UP AS JEALOUSY, ISN'T IT?

[Mettaton is vain. He's conceited. Arrogant. That much is true. Keats would agree with that any day and throw in several more complaints on top of it.]

[He doesn't know why it irks him to hear that other people are calling him that.]

Haven't they realized what you're trying to do for them? I mean, if they're taking you at face value...

[He pauses. He's...done just that, hasn't he?]

[Wow, that's not a nice feeling to feel.]

Anyways, what kind of entertainment do you do, anyways? I know you sing.

Edited 2017-04-17 02:25 (UTC)

[Ugh, stop it! Stop saying nice things about him...! He's flashing that stupid heart again, isn't he?

He is. He can see its reflection on the table. Stupid, stupid...

Whatever! This is about you, Mettaton!! Enjoy talking about you!]

OH, EVERYTHING I CAN! WHEN YOU'RE THE ONLY CHANNEL THAT'S ON, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PROGRAM FOR EVERYTHING. NEWS, MOVIES, INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS, COOKING SHOWS, INFOMERCIALS, FASHION SHOWS, SOAP OPERAS, DRAMAS, MUSICALS, PLAYS, POLICE PROCEDURALS, HOME NETWORKS, REALITY TELEVISION, SPORTS BROADCASTING, AND NOT TO MENTION THE EVER IMPORTANT ADVERTISING...

SIGH. THIS IS THE MOST FREE TIME I'VE HAD IN YEARS.

[He's certainly noticing that heart. Mettaton is as easy to read as a book, isn't he...]

Goodness. [It just makes his mind spin, doing all of that.] Don't you have a team or something to help you?

MMM... ALPHYS DID ALL THE CAMERA WORK AND MAKING PRODUCTS FOR ME TO SELL, BUT MOST OF MY STAFF WERE ONLY HIRED TO HELP RUN MY RESORT. HA. WHY HAVE AN ENTERTAINMENT ROBOT IF HE CAN'T DO EVERYTHING, EH?

You had a resort?

[THIS IS NEWS]

Don't tell me you had a theme park, too.

HA! IF ONLY WE HAD THE SPACE, HONEY. IF ONLY WE HAD THE SPACE.

[Could you IMAGINE? Costumed Mettatons wandering about! Classy water-rides! A rollercoaster with the longest drops in the shape of his legs...!

He makes a motion like he's flipping his hair, despite having neither head nor hair at this exact second.

Anyway.]

DIDN'T I TELL YOU THAT WHEN WE MET? ABOUT HOW SANS WORKED THERE FOR ME? HONEY. CUPCAKE.

IT'S LIKE YOU'VE NEVER REALLY PAID ATTENTION TO ME BEFORE...

When we met, you were some strange and vaguely intriguing robot with an obsession with putting up your leg every other second. I can't say that I was particularly incredibly interested in the beginning...

[And now he's a strange and far-more-intriguing-than-suspected robot he...actually has weird feelings over.]

Anyways, what did you do to try raising viewership? I mean, since people seemed too stubborn to watch you.

Edited 2017-04-17 14:11 (UTC)

[Sorry, what was that? He couldn't hear Keats over the sound of his own leg getting stretched onto the table.

Thunk.

Admire that.]

DO YOU HONESTLY THINK I STARTED WITH THAT LAUNDRY LIST FROM DAY ONE? I SAW NEEDS AND I TRIED TO FILL THEM, BE IT WITH NEW PROGRAMS, NEW PRODUCTS, ANOTHER RESTAURANT, YADDA YADDA...

[Robotic sigh.]

HA. THE MOST VIEWS I EVER HAD WAS WHEN I WAS THREATENING TO LEAVE.

[Just...stares at it.]

You look like someone with nice boots got stuck in a vending machine.

[IT'S TRUE THOUGH]

What? What do you mean, threatening to leave?

...

[That's hurtful, Keats. The leg slinks off the table and disappears, retreating back into the metal shell.]

PAPYRUS NEVER TOLD YOU ABOUT THE HUMAN THAT FELL, DID HE?

[He's only nice to a certain level, Mettaton, you should expect this.]

Wait a second. A human that fell...Frisk?

[He vaguely remembers Papyrus mentioning a name like that.]

Papyrus said he fought a child.

THAT WAS THEM.

[He isn't sure he wants to tell this story. It's not the greatest for PR, honestly.

...but. It's one of the least horrible things Mettaton has done. If Keats reacts badly to this, then...]

...THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, HUMAN MAGES CAST A SPELL TO TRAP MONSTERS UNDER A SINGLE MOUNTAIN. THE ONLY WAY OUT WAS EITHER TO TAKE SEVEN HUMAN SOULS TO BREAK THE BARRIER FOR EVERYONE... OR JUST USE ONE FOR YOURSELF.

[He's back to tapping his fingers against his arms. You're a smart cookie, Keats. Don't make him have to spell this one out for you.]

...

[Human souls needed to cross a barrier. A child who had fallen down into the world of monsters.]

[He makes the connection, his expression turning grim. He can understand why the monsters would be desperate to leave, by any means possible. To leave their prison for good. But to use a child for that...]

[It's tragic, really.]

I wonder why humans would make a barrier like that, if the way to cross it meant a solution involving their own souls. [But he digresses...] When you were threatening to leave, did you mean leave your show, or...leave the underground?

ISN'T THAT ONE AND THE SAME?

[His show was his life. It was all he had for years. It was his place in the Underground. To leave one would be to leave them both.]

I DON'T THINK THEY EVER IMAGINED US GETTING OUR HANDS ON ANY SOULS, TO BE HONEST. OVER THE THOUSANDS OF YEARS WE'VE BEEN IMPRISONED, ONLY SEVEN HUMANS HAVE FALLEN, FRISK INCLUDED.

ASGORE, OUR KING. HE ALREADY HAD SIX SOULS.

EVERYONE IN THE UNDERGROUND KNEW FRISK WAS THE LAST ONE HE'D NEED.

[Another sigh. Shakier this time, still steeled. Keats hasn't acted in disgust yet. Mettaton can keep talking.]

...WHEN A MONSTER TAKES A HUMAN SOUL, THEY TURN INTO SOMETHING TERRIBLE. FOR ALL OF OUR MAGIC, MONSTERS THEMSELVES ARE WEAK TO EMOTION - WE WILL LITERALLY DIE WITHOUT LOVE, MERCY, OR COMPASSION. BUT HUMAN SOULS DON'T NEED ANY OF THOSE. THEY'RE STRONGER. THEY CAN SURVIVE AFTER DEATH. TOGETHER... THE POWER IS TERRIFYING.

THAT'S WITH ONLY ONE.

WITH SEVEN? ASGORE WOULD HAVE KILLED EVERY HUMAN ON THE PLANET.

WE ALL KNEW THAT. UNDYNE KNEW THAT. SANS KNEW THAT. PAPYRUS WAS OBSESSED WITH JOINING THE ROYAL GUARD; HE HAS TO HAVE KNOWN THAT. ALPHYS WAS MORE INTERESTED IN MAKING SURE THE HUMAN WAS HER NEW BEST FRIEND THAN PUTTING A STOP TO IT.

SO I DECIDED THAT IF IT STOPPED A WAR... I'D KILL THEM INSTEAD.

FINALLY HAVING AN AUDIENCE THAT MIGHT CARE WAS JUST A BONUS.

[He's silent for a long moment. That is...incredibly heavy. Sacrificing human souls to end a meaningless exile, only to take revenge in the bloodiest way possible. Monsters desperate enough to become something worse, something terrible.]

[It vaguely reminds him of the Faeries' plight, trapped in a world with realms that were slowly dying because of human beings losing their belief in the afterlife. Their need to go to the core of the Netherworld to allow consequences to occur that would benefit them but ruin every human's life for good.]

[To stop a thing like that...it wasn't like peace and love would always be there to save the way. War is war. Survival pushes people to do terrible things.]

...

If your people escaped with Frisk's soul...it's not like you would all survive the war that would've come.

[The choice - free your people and deal with loved ones dying in a possibly gruesome war, or keep them all imprisoned by killing one child and saving your people from possible destruction?]

You did what you had to for your people. I'm not going to say it was right. You were going to kill an innocent child, that's...

[He sighs.]

But I understand where you were coming from. [A huff.] You always do what you can to help others, don't you? Taking on that kind of burden...I can't even imagine doing a thing like that.

Edited 2017-04-17 17:08 (UTC)

[...there's that horrible, melting feeling again. You did what you had to. I understand. You always do what you can to help others. The mechanical hum of his fans begins to grow louder, more insistent, as his core heats up. This is so pathetic. He's a celebrity. He can't just get weak in the... well, wheel the instant someone validates his actions.

Especially actions he knows are selfish. He didn't do it for his people. He did it for himself. Because he admired humans and wanted them to live over seeing his people free. Keeping monsters safe was only a side effect.

But Keats certainly makes an appealing alternate take on those motivations.

Somehow, he's slinking into his seat, looking as modest as a giant metal box can. That heart's flashing on his screen again.]

HAHA... I THINK YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO EVER TELL ME THAT.

[Anyway.]

ANYWAY.

AS YOU CAN TELL, IT DIDN'T COME TO THAT. FRISK TURNED OUT TO BE FAR STRONGER THAN I WAS AND IF THEY COULD GET PAST ME THEY COULD GET PAST ASGORE. I RAN OUT OF BATTERY AFTER THE FIGHT, SO I CAN'T TELL YOU A THING THAT HAPPENED UNTIL I WAS CHARGED AND ALPHYS FINALLY FIXED MY BODY, BUT... WELL. SOMEHOW, THEY CHANGED ASGORE'S MIND AND BROKE THE BARRIER BY THEMSELVES.

NO ONE REALLY KNOWS HOW. HAPPILY EVER AFTER, I GUESS.

[He folds his hands onto the table, drumming his fingers again.]

YOU HAVE ANOTHER INTERVIEW QUESTION, THERE?

Edited 2017-04-17 21:43 (UTC)

[If this was literally anyone else, they might have called Mettaton out, made him reconsider how his motivations were hurtful to his people, how he was making them suffer in isolation and prevent them from the freedom and revenge they deserved.]

[But this is Keats. This is a man who is selfish, incredibly so, and perfectly gets how it would be a good option. He is not a man who thinks of the goodwill of the many. He works for the people he likes and his own desires, for the most part. So this doesn't disturb him as it should disturb others.]

A child, stronger than most of you...that must be quite some soul they had. [He shakes his head.] So, wait, they broke the barrier on their own? What did they do, sacrifice themselves? I mean, you said you don't know, but still...

[It's sort of a horrifying thought.]

And goodness, Mettaton, this isn't an interview, I just...I'm getting to know you. It's good. [He reaches up to push the glasses that aren't there, and he lowers his hand with a frustrated huff.]

Anyways...did you ever get to see the surface? Back home, I mean.

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