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[pleasereset]

"Hello, this is Asriel! Leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!"

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[mttbrandlegs]

[Mettaton wishes he could say that his memory was lucid. But it wasn't. And by the time he finished reading Asriel's text, that uneasiness hadn't lifted, nor had his memory really cleared on the matter.

But he does feel rather intensely aware of a very uncomfortable feeling between goading Alphys and Undyne to kiss and seeing Frisk again in Waterfall. Was it...was it because of what Asriel said?

Had Asriel really taken his soul? No...that's not right. Is it?]

when you had those souls, did you also take a human soul somehow? maybe one of the six?

[He has to know.]

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I took all six of them.

[Just like he had with the refugees. Admitting it leaves a sick feeling in his stomach.]

I had a lot of reasons for doing it, none of them excuses what I did. In the end, Frisk and I used the power of everyone's souls to break the barrier before all the souls were returned back to where they belong.

[mttbrandlegs]

[Mettaton doesn't bother using his usual typing method at this point.]

I see.

So when I saw you a few months back, it really was an accurate representation

that is what a monster looks like when they absorb the soul of a human.

[Not a monster anymore, as the books say. But Mettaton doesn't seem to find that true. After all, Asriel had done it for a good cause. An inexcusable amount of death, to be sure, but. They had all made stupid decisions during that invasion.

And...as for what Asriel had done in the Underground...?]

it does not excuse it.

But you were doing what you believed was right, weren't you? You were doing it because you wanted to feel something, rather than nothing?

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Yeah, that's what I looked like back then too...

[Mettaton's response stings a little. But it's honestly not at all as bad as he thought it was going to be. Even if Asriel didn't go into full details - timelines where he killed and manipulated fellow monsters, where he erased each timeline if he didn't get the result he wanted, Mettaton still had every reason to be upset with him.

He'd seen what Asriel was capable of doing after all.]

Well, I can't say I did at first. Frisk was the one who knocked some sense into me, and it was because of them that I was able to do the right thing in the end.

Before that, there was a lot of things I wanted to use the souls for. To break the barrier and show everyone just how awful the world they wanted really was, that it was kill or be killed. That was before Frisk really showed me that humans could be kind. But honestly? It wasn't even about that.

It was about Chara. Or, when I saw Frisk I mistook them for Chara. No, I think I wanted so badly for Frisk to be Chara that I refused to see them for who they really were. And I was willing to go to any lengths, no matter how terrible, to make sure they didn't leave again. Pretty stupid, huh? I mean, they're both so different...

[Honestly Asriel's not sure how much Mettaton knows about Chara either, but they were on the ship for a while that Asriel thinks they could've ran into each other.]

I was a pretty rotten sibling, mistaken identity or not.

[...]

I'm sorry Mettaton, this is something I really should have told you sooner. You were tearing yourself down about how you didn't have any friends and that you hurt the ones you had and I just didn't think it was right to act like I didn't get it.

[mttbrandlegs]

[To show everyone how awful the world was? But it wasn't too awful at all! Yes, monsters did encounter some problems with getting used to it, as did the humans. But to say that it was awful...

Well, to be fair, Asriel didn't have an excellent point of reference. He was killed by humans, so adopting that 'kill or be killed' ideology wasn't too farfetched.]

I don't think you are a rotten sibling. Asriel, you were a young boy. Your decisions were not good ones, and I think you know deep down what is and is not forgivable, but I don't think you're a bad person

Just one that made the wrong decisions and acted out.

[Mettaton's fingers paused over the MID as he considered Asriel's apology. He was...empathizing. He had told Mettaton this in a show of solidarity...]

We have all made mistakes. I am not so cruel as to hold it against you.

Thank you for telling me this. I guess we do have some more in common than I thought.

[Not that he thinks it's good that they've both done hurtful things. But that's his way of expressing gratitude for the perspective.

He's not as bad as he could be. And honestly, neither is Asriel. Things have changed with them.]

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[Mettaton can't see or hear him, but Asriel lets out a sigh of relief. He's so glad Mettaton doesn't hate him. He's so, so glad. Asriel has managed his own guilt for a long time, but the thought of losing a friend like Mettaton hurt way too much.

He's seen Asriel at his worst, after all. He's seen him at his weakest and most vulnerable, and at his cruelest. It made things feel... a lot less lonely. To have someone like that as a friend.]

Thank you for letting me tell you all that. And for... staying friends with me anyway.

Thank you.

[mttbrandlegs]

I wouldn't be a good friend otherwise, would I?

Truly though. You should know that I value our friendship, and I would never compromise it if I could help it.

Like I said, I am determined to be a good friend this time. :)

[Mettaton's not quite ready to lay on his caps lock right now. But he is starting to feel a little less upset.]

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[So is Asriel, though after the tension of spilling out his whole backstory he's feeling kind of tired.]

I think you're already a great friend, Mettaton.

[mttbrandlegs]

That means a lot to me, sweetheart. I'm sorry I was so negative before

I'm not really like this all the time, it's just that things have not been the greatest. It's a lot to take in.

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I understand.

I'm not ungrateful for having my old self back, and getting to go to space for the first time but... I wish it wasn't so hard out here. I thought it'd be so much cooler. Like going to planets and having exciting adventures and meeting new friends.

[Instead it's more like suffering, heartbreak, and a heaping pile of tradegy after tragedy.]

To be honest, I think I've had enough of all these space adventures. I think I just want to go home with everyone.

[If he can.

He doesn't think he can though.]

[mttbrandlegs]

I would bring you home with me. I'm sure I said that before, but I would find a way to make it happen.

You have your soul here, don't you? So why not?

I know I've been saying that the ship is the safest but that's basically in reference to everything else. Everything else out there is worse.

[He's circling around the subject, but clearly said subject is the Outpost.]

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[He hopes you can, Mettaton. Asriel can only assume that he has a SOUL, or else he'd be Flowey right now. And the Captains have proven over and over they can bring back those from the dead. So could he keep his SOUL too?

If Asriel's wrong, and he goes back only to find his fate as Flowey waiting for him... he's not sure if he could handle it. He could back then, back before he actually got to know any of the monsters that showed up on this ship.]

I'd like that. I don't know if I can keep my SOUL once they send us home, but I hope I can keep mine. I really want to see what the surface is like.

[He almost adds "for more than a few minutes" but that feels a little too bitter. Asriel also knows what Mettaton is exactly implying.]

Yeah, I used to think this ship is pretty dangerous too. But out there is a lot scarier.

[mttbrandlegs]

We will have to ask. I don't see why, given a SOUL here, you would be stripped of it just because we get sent back home through a weird portal.

And anyway, it is not as if we, monsters, can refute the power of magic. Let's have a little faith in it, shall we? :)

[Mettaton doesn't want to delve into the topic too deeply. This...just isn't a thing he can chatter away from. It stings.

It stings even more than Papyrus leaving...]

You're right. It is scary out there. I still...do not understand the concept of one person owning another. There's no sense of ethics around here, is there?

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[They'd have to ask. Asriel's not even sure if the Captains actually knew, but Mettaton was right. He has it now, doesn't he? His SOUL won't get stolen, it won't disappear if he goes back.

Maybe he really could look forward to a future of being with mom, dad, and Frisk. And going to Mettaton's shows, and meeting Papyrus all over again, and maybe getting to be friends with Sans this time.

That'd be... that'd be so nice. It hurts how much he wants it.]

You're right... it'd be really nice to see home. Well, I guess it's not really my home yet.

[The topic shift earns a frown. It's never a pleasant thing to talk about, and just thinking about it left a queasy feeling in his stomach.]

I don't either. I don't understand it at all. Every time I leave this ship it feels like I'm going to run into one of them again.

[mttbrandlegs]

You should call me if you do. You know that I would defend you.

[Sometimes...he wished he would have a reason to take out his frustration on someone. He's been trying to bite back those feelings since they don't really help him with his sense of identity--which he's mostly been able to forgo thinking about--but the idea of retribution sometimes seems too perfect to pass up.]

Oh, but anyway. Don't talk like that, Asriel. You may not have been there, but I'm sure that, given the circumstances, your home will always be with your mother and Frisk. You just needed the opportunity!

And you'll have it!!

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You would be the first one I call if I ever got into trouble like that again.

[Him and Rinzler. But he doesn't want Mettaton to get caught or hurt either.]

Space is pretty big, isn't it? It's not like I'd run into him again. Right?

[You can almost hear the nervous chuckle on Asriel's end. Not that Asriel wasn't afraid of all slavers. He was afraid of the two slavers that aimed their weapons at him when he first ran into them, the slavers that muzzled him and put him up for sale, he was afraid of being on the same planet as any of them. They took one look at him and decided that he was good enough to capture and sell to someone. If just two slavers saw that in him, what's to say anyone who does that kind of business wouldn't see him in the same way?

He can't prove his independence to any of them. They didn't see like that. Maybe they all saw him that way. Something to muzzle and sell off. But it was really him that Asriel feared the most, even hating him. Whenever he thought about that man, all he could remember was slowly starving in complete darkness. And that man - he hated him too, didn't he? Calling Asriel a "useless animal" and treating him like the other animals in cells.

Asriel hated him. He really did. But he's sure if that man found him ever again... well. He can't. He just can't ever be found by him again.

Asriel latches onto the second part of Mettaton's text. It's better to focus on going home, seeing his family again - all the things he hoped to do when this awful journey was over.]

You're right. It'll be home once I get there. I'm really looking forward to it.

[mttbrandlegs]

Well like I said. I would protect you.

[Mettaton knows what Asriel's feeling. He doesn't have to hear it verbally; he knows that feeling, the one of being captured against your will and shackled to the ground to be appraised. He knew what it was like to have your will disregarded.

The only difference was that Mettaton was a robot. He wasn't considered an animal, but instead as a programmable husk used for a singular purpose; blood sport. Murder.

Suffice it to say...he's happy to keep to the happier parts of the conversation. There's way too much pain and unresolved feelings tied to what had happened on the Outpost, and although Mettaton knows it's useless to push this away, that it's only hurting him--and he's sure it's hurting Asriel to suppress it--he can't bring himself to talk about it very much.]

I suppose I'll have to ask Toriel for permission to borrow you too, like I must with Frisk.

We'll have a good time! I promise! I have connections, and money! Celebrities want for nothing, after all!

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[Asriel knows Mettaton would protect him, and he appreciates it. It doesn't sit well with him, being so helpless that he'd need the protection. But he knows he can't defend himself against them, if they did find him again.

No matter how hard he struggles to get away or how hard he fights, they'll always overpower him. That was the lesson they wanted him to take away from that place, he thinks.

He's so scared for himself. For Mettaton too. He really can't stand the thought of losing him too.]

I wouldn't mind having a party when we all get back. Like a celebration for getting off this ship.

[Er, maybe Asriel should dream a little bigger?]

... Maybe with a really big cake?

[mttbrandlegs]

Only the biggest!!! No expense shall be spared!

[Mettaton is emphatic about this.

And yet, he isn't enthused enough to feel right texting as he usually does. The effort seems inconsequential now anyway.]

We can all have it together! Cake and ice cream, party favors and good music! That's how it's done!!

[And he can see them all. Not just Toriel, Frisk, Sans, and Asriel. Papyrus, and Alphys too.

...He pushes that away. No. He's not going to think about the others right now. Here or not, he won't. He can't.]

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[Everyone together and celebrating. Everyone there, except Chara-

No, he should be happy. Right? He shouldn't feel guilty about it, he should be excited about going back with mom, Frisk, and Mettaton. He should be able to, right? He can finally have his happy ending? He didn't have to be punished anymore, he can finally move on. He can finally have this - a chance to go home and have a family again and not be alone anymore.

He wants it so badly that it hurts. It really, really does hurt.]

Haha... ha... hnn...

[For the moment, Mettaton's text goes unanswered.]

i couldn't help myself

[mttbrandlegs]

[Mettaton wants to message Asriel again when their conversation is cut off.

He feels a deep-seated compunction to make sure everything's alright with the small boss monster and to make sure he's still there but...somehow he feels as if he had taken it too far.

So he simply closes out his MID, and tries to remain optimistic for his own sake.

As is usual lately, it doesn't work.]