Corruption (OLD)

The Core of Everything

The Core, you decided, was worse than Hotland. The temperature was more bearable, but it was like a frickin' maze. It was all twisty and turny and of course the elevator wasn't working. You didn't know where you were going, and Papyrus wasn't the best help. He tried, sure. But he lead you into many, many traps. Sans would snicker and point out the right direction, making you feel a little suspicious. Perhaps he knew the Core better than he was letting on? You felt like you were screwed when it came to more laser puzzles. One of them was actually impossible for you, if it wasn't for random power surges that cut the power enough to let you move through to the other side and switch off the lasers for your companions. Flowey almost lost a petal there.

"We are making good progress." Papyrus commented after a tough battle with something called a Knight Knight and a Madjick. Well, it seemed tough to you as you watched the skeletons fight. Once weakened enough, most monsters ran away, too afraid to die. The Knight Knight's seem just tired to you, and you wonder if perhaps you sang to them, would they fall asleep? Wait. Where did that thought come from? You kept getting weird thoughts and vibes the closer you got to the capital. Not to mention that dream you had. You could still remember it vividly.

"Are we, or are we lost again?" You asked in a rather sassy tone. He glared at you lightly.

"No, no. We're heading the right way." Sans reassured you with a light smirk. You noticed tiny changes in his attitude as time passed. At first he seemed murderous and angry all the time, with a sarcastic streak. Now, you've noticed he really is your friend. He jumps in front of you when a monster attacks you directly, he teases you in a sarcastic way or sasses you when you sass him back. He seems like he doesn't want to kill you anymore. He seemed to like you. A lot. And yes, you still had his jacket. Because screw returning it to him.

"Cool, cool..." You look down curiously. "What is that?" You point to something shiny in the corner, next to a decorative door. Both the skeletons gave you a funny look.

"Are you finally losing it?" Flowey asked. "There's nothing there."

You shook your head, going towards it and touching it. You didn't know why, but you felt like you should. It was this deep, deep feeling. You couldn't explain it. It was shiny and yellow and you touched it. You felt a strong sense of Determination and flashes appeared before your eyes.

You and Sans in Grillby's, sharing a meal and laughing.

Undyne and Alphys, holding hands and raving about anime, while you giggled along at their antics.

Papyrus teaching you how to cook.

Toriel baking you a pie.

Asgore asking you advice on how to win back Toriel.

Flowey, an evil, evil flower that you took to the Surface in a flower pot.

Then it was over and you were back in reality.

"You okay, kiddo? You seem really out of it." Sans asked you, showing concern. You knew it was real concern too.

"I-Yeah, I'm fine." You shook your head. You still couldn't straighten out those flashes. They were like what you saw in your dream, but different. It was like... A different life. An entire life you couldn't remember. "Let's just go. Through this door, right?" You hurried through the decorated door, not hearing Sans shout, telling you to wait. The door slammed shut, and you noticed a distinct absence of skeletons.

"Darling... I do wish we'd stop meeting. For your own safety, because I do love you. You're wonderful lovey. But this time... One of us will leave this time. Not both." A familiar robotic voice sounded. You turned, and met the friendly side of the robot you had encountered many time. Mettaton. He seemed sad, like he was having an internal battle with himself. "I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. If I don't seriously fight you, if I don't take your soul for Alphys' testing... I will become scrap metal. I will be scrapped and I will die." That's when a bomb went off and you dodged the blast as best you could. This was it. This was your test to see if you could hold to your no fighting. You dropped your bag down on the side, with Flowey in it.

"Wha-Fri-Why-FRISK!" Flowey shouted to you, but you ignored it.

"I won't fight you Mettaton." You said firmly. He sighed heavily, looking down.

"You are admirable, Frisk. You won't fight, you won't kill. It's admirable. I want to be like you, I do. But I cannot, I just cannot..." Another bomb exploded and you narrowly escaped it. You got burned that time, you knew it.

"I won't fight you Mettaton! You don't have to fight me. Alphys can't control you forever."

This time, he kicked you with his oh-so-fabulous legs, sending you into the wall. Hard. You cried out in pain, and it seemed to also pain Mettaton. Then, his nice guy attitude disappeared and the more violent, ready-to-kill side came out.

"Oh, darling... This will be fun." And he tried to kick you again, but you rolled over. You winced, because you were in an incredible about of pain. Being kicked by a metal leg would do that.

"Frisk! I-I can use magic." Flowey yelled.

"No! I don't want to hurt Mettaton!" You shouted back. "I will not fight! I am determined not to kill him."

"No, no. Watch." Little white pellets appeared, as you dodged another bomb-like thing. They flew toward you, and you thought you should dodge, but instead, you let them touch you. You felt warmth flood your body, and the pain leave. "Friendliness pellets!" He smiled proudly, and you grinned back. Mettaton then tried to target Flowey, but you distracted him.

"Alphys doesn't have to control you anymore. You can... You can fight her. Fight back. Get help. Banish her presence from yourself. I'm sure someone down here can help you." You said to him firmly. He chuckled darkly.

"Even if Alphys didn't hold the threat of being scrapped over my head, I would still kill you, darling. I would make your last living moments absolutely beautiful." He grinned maliciously. "I would never be rid of this side of me, the violent side. What you would call 'evil'. You would never be safe. Why do you even try anymore? Just die!!" He threw a barrage of things at you now, and Flowey helped you by hitting those things with his harmful pellets. It made the bombs explode early, it made other things avoid you. It was helpful, and it let you talk to Mettaton more.

"I don't care. You can work with that! I can work with that. Fight back, Mettaton! Fight against Alphys! I did. I escaped her. You helped me, knowing the risk. You helped me a second time, knowing the risk. You can fight her a third time, so fight!" You shouted with your fists balled up at your sides. You barely noticed the constant banging of the door. Probably mostly Sans trying to get through.

"I can't!" Nice Mettaton shouted through. Now he was fighting with himself.

"You don't need to. Let's kill the human." Evil Mettaton.

"I don't want to."

"Do you want to be scrapped?!"

The explosions died down, the objects stopped flying around. He stood, almost frozen in spot.

"Frisk... Frisk is my friend. My human friend. And... Even Alphys can't take that away." A bomb appeared, and went off right in front of him, taking out his legs.

"What are you doing?! You're going to kill yourself!" The evil side of him snarled through.

"No! I-I will help my friend!" The nice Mettaton, the true Mettaton shone through, knocking off his own arms with another attack. He was little more than a bi-polar torso. "Alphys can't use me anymore... And she can't scrap me because I tried and I failed. Go, Frisk." He said with a sad but proud smile.

You were shocked, to say the least, but nodded anyways. You were picking up your bag and Flowey, ready to leave, when the skeletons burst in. Papyrus had a bone attack at the ready and Sans' hand was glowing dangerously with magic. "Wait! He was fighting me but isn't now. I'll explain later, we have to go now!" You grabbed both of them by the hand and literally dragged them out of the room, surprising both of them.

In the hall, where it was safe and quiet, you sighed heavily. You explained what happened in there, and they both listened. Sans seemed to get angry about Mettaton hurting you, and Papyrus just listened with a neutral face. "But I'm okay. Really. How much farther?"

"Not too much. The capital, the castle. They are both very close." Sans said in a grave tone of voice.