+ It's good that we can't see what isn't there +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: EVERYONE
Where: Wonderland and adjacent dimensions!
When: Friday, April 21st to Monday, April 24th
Rating: PG-13, warn if higher!
Summary: A place to list your tears throughout the event, and describe the worlds that can be seen or accessed through them. Event Post.
The Story:

While invisible zombies ravage Wonderland, tears are popping up everywhere! Through them characters can see versions of themselves from alternate universes. Some of them show a different version of Wonderland, some a different version of their home. Some are as benign as a character drinking coffee instead of tea, others are as drastic as somebody's entire personality changed completely.

On day one tears are so small as to barely even be recognisable. Faint voices and melodies can be heard through the tiny cracks if you step really close, but these brief and indistinct glimpses are barely even worth describing.

On day two tears have opened up wide enough to recognise them for what they really are. Yesterday's melodies will sound clearer, and the voices will become decidedly familiar, belonging to people characters know, sounding perhaps even like the characters themselves. Look through the tears and they may catch sight of home, or something that merely looks like another part of Wonderland. The tears are yet narrow and instable though, and the field of vision is correspondingly poor.

On day three the tears have grown a great deal. The worlds beyond them can be seen and heard, though most cannot be interacted with at all. Only the biggest ones are already stable enough for characters to stick their hand inside, and pulls through any objects within reach.

On the fourth and last day some tears have finally become large and stable enough for characters to pass through whole. Not all tears will reach this stage, but those who have can be visited, and the world beyond them explored... at each character's own peril.

Comments

ahahahaaha I'M DYING PEN

[mettatonvevo]

[His protests fall on deaf ears. The king has no patience for them, no time; This impostor is not the first to beg for his life and he will not be the last.]

You don't care?

[He's touching him. Ew. But the king doesn't flinch. He's not the kind to lose face.]

The real Sans?

[He'll leave? No harm done? This is ludicrous. His grip tightens a little more.]

You think I can let you leave? When you know important information? When you could hold clues to a greater mystery? You must think me a true fool then.

[He grins, a predatory smirk.]

I may one day have to kill the real Sans. Killing you will be a nice test run.

[His other hand raises, magic crackling off his fingertips, coming towards Sans's neck-]

SANS! What are you doing? You must get away from him!!

[The king freezes, eyes wide. That voice. It's...?

He drops Sans unceremoniously, whipping around to find the source of the sound.

On the other side of the hallway, partially obscured in shadow, stands another monster. He stands with the same regal air as the king himself, but without the crown to match. The king stares at him like he's seen a ghost.]

This is no time for stage fright!

[Mettaton stares down the scene- himself in a crown, looking positively murderous and Sans (his Sans) on the floor. He doesn't know if Sans has given up for some bizarre reason, but he will do what he must to get him out of here.]

WE'RE ALL DYING

[punful]

[He doesn't listen. That's fine. Sans didn't really expect him to. Nor does he expect to be able to just pry the King's fingers off him and break free. No, this is going to come down to a fight. And he hates fighting, and he's exhausted, but he doesn't have to hold out for long. Just long enough to get the King to let go, just for a second. Then he's gone.]

[He's not going to die here. Not at the hands of someone he cares about. Not when Papyrus is only a few yards away.]

i don't care whether there are humans here or not. it doesn't matter to me.

[Important information? What does that matter? The King's grip tightens painfully.]

i don't have anything you could possibly want. trust me.

[But the King reaches towards him anyway. Calls it a test.]

[An experiment.]

[He's not going to die here.]

[His left eyesocket flares yellow-blue and a Gaster Blaster appears directly behind the King. Even a point blank shot won't kill him, not with that much HP. The Blaster charges, its jaw opening, and--]

[Another voice comes from the opposite end of the hall. The King whirls, letting go so suddenly that Sans just sort of crumples. He scoots backward, the Blaster winking out of existence, and sees Mettaton step into the hallway.]

[Any good actor needs to have perfect timing.]

metta...?

[mettatonvevo]

[The king gapes. For once he drops his dignified air as he stares at what can only be himself. But he looks... younger somehow. Less broken. Less cracked and weary.

He looks like what he would look like if Alphys was still alive. And it fills him with boiling envy.]

What is this. What is this? I demand an answer to this madness!

[The real Mettaton looks at Sans, trying to ignore the unsettled feeling in his stomach as this king version of him stares him down.]

Sans. We need to get to the tear. Get up.

[There's a firmness in his eyes, even as he smiles a bit at his alternate. Stalling. If there is one thing he can do, it's stall.

The king snarls.]

I don't know what trickery is this, but you'll both die! You hear me? Both of you!

[He unleashes a wave of electricity towards Mettaton, whose eyes widen but- he doesn't move. He does not dodge. If it gives Sans enough time to get moving, he can take a few hits to his HP.]

[punful]

[This...]

[All just got a whole lot worse.]

[The King loses all self-control, almost immediately. All of his focus is on Mettaton, which is good for Sans. Not so great for Mettaton.]

[Especially not when the King attacks, and Mettaton doesn't even try to dodge.]

[Sans drags himself to his feet, and in the same moment throws out an attack. Bones erupt from the floor beneath the King's feet, aiming to trip him up, hopefully make the attack miss. Spare a few HP of damage, if nothing else.]

[It's too dangerous to just teleport to Mettaton while that attack is still going, and electricity tends to spread. In the meantime, Sans dodges to the side, well out of the King's reach.]

[As soon as the attack dissipates, or the King falls, Sans is getting them both out of here.]

[mettatonvevo]

[Mettaton braces himself. The intent to kill will hit and it will hit hard but he can take it. Sans can't. The arc of electricity crackles through the air and... misses him. What?

The king stumbles, cursing as the bones knock him off his balance. As he tumbles he lets out another series of monster bullets, releasing them in a spread through the room.]

I will not be fought!!! You will not stand against me!!

[The bullets are erratic. There's no pattern to them. It's just a mad man, lashing out at the world. Mettaton dodges these, attempting to make his way through the hailstorm and get to Sans.]

Sorry, darling, but you know how it is on our shows; the good guys always win against the heel turning villains!

[He shoots the king a wink as he gets as close as he can to Sans, throwing his arm out to catch a few stray bullets that may hit him.]

[punful]

[Erratic bullets. God damn but does he hate erratic bullet patterns. Monsters are supposed to stick to sensible freaking patterns, dodgeable patterns, and this is why Sans respects Papyrus's control over his magic so much. Papyrus never lets a single bullet go anywhere he doesn't want it to go, no matter how he's feeling at the time.]

[Papyrus. Can't think about Papyrus now. Can't think about the fact that he's probably heard the commotion and is coming here, coming to see what's happening. Might see his own brother fighting their king, and then...]

[It's so hard to think clearly. All he can do is dodge, and skirt his way toward Mettaton as best he can. Mettaton throws out an arm to help block him. It's not like fighting alongside his brother, but Mettaton is intuitive. A powerful monster.]

[A bullet hits the floor dangerously close to Sans and he sort of lurches forward, finally catching Mettaton's outstretched hand.]

[He teleports as soon as he makes contact, and they both land back in the throne room. It's quiet, though it's easy to hear the King still raging in the distance. Sans spots the tear hovering near the flowerbed and lets go of Mettaton's hand. He figures they probably have a few seconds, or maybe a minute, before the King realizes what happened and comes to find them.]

...sorry. i didn't mean to come here.

[He keeps doing this, keeps waltzing right into other people's business. Literally this time.]

thanks for--you kinda saved my tailbone.

[The tear is only a few feet away, but Sans is making no move toward it.]

[mettatonvevo]

[It's a madhouse in the hallway. Mettaton blocks a few stray bullets from hitting Sans and hazards a glance to his alternate self. The king's face is turned away from him but the bullets say enough as they connect, almost burning into his arms with the loathing put into them. There's so much more emotion past that however, just from a cursory feeling, a darker depth of complexity and it chills him.

What happened to him? How did he become this?

His question doesn't get an answer. Sans grabs his hand and he feels the world turn on a dime, and when he gets his bearings back they're both in the Throne Room.]

It's all right. Let me guess- the zombies were chasing you? It happened with me earlier as well.

[He's stumbled into quite a few tears himself that way and had some horrible and interesting sights with people.

The tear is only a few feet away and Mettaton is already turning to walk through it. Idly he looks over his shoulder and sees Sans... not moving. He stops, looking at the skeleton with muted confusion.]

Yes yes, we'll have more time for proper thanks when we're out of here. Let's get going.

[punful]

[He's not looking at Mettaton or at the tear. He's staring off toward the hallway. There's shouting in the distance, probably the King realizing what happened, sending guards out to search for the intruders.]

[It's too far away to make out words, but he can hear Papyrus's voice again, and he goes rigid.]

...yeah. didn't even know the tear was...

[He trails off. There's his voice again. It feels like his soul is being ripped to shreds.]

he's--here.

[He finally looks at Mettaton again.]

he's just. right down the hall. can you hear him? i could--just for a second, i could...

[He might have doomed him already. Might have doomed Papyrus and the real Sans both. He can't really expect the King to be rational after all this. He might just execute them both on sight. If Sans had just kept his cool, if he hadn't frozen up at the sound of Papyrus's voice...he could have kept playing along and made his escape easily. But now...]

[And still, despite all that, all he can think is that he--just wants to see him. Just once.]

[mettatonvevo]

[The sound of inarticulate rage is distant now, but it's still there. Mettaton can hear the notes and tones and he knows it's him, knows it is the King, him as a king, causing all sort of commotion back in the golden hallway.

There's... Papyrus's voice as well. He wonders what the poor skeleton is doing. He hopes that maybe he'll survive this somehow. There's no telling what his alternate will do, but he hopes he chooses MERCY.

Sans isn't looking at him. He's looking towards the hallway, longing and pain etched into his bones, and Mettaton doesn't know what to say.

When their gazes meet, Mettaton searches Sans's face, thinking. This is dangerous. This is worrisome. They both need to leave, right now, because if this Mettaton is anything like him, he'll get smart and come marching in here and find them. At that point it's anyone's guess as to what will happen. Staying any longer is putting them both into a deeply unnecessary risk.

But. What if this was reversed? What would it be like if Mettaton lost Napstablook after having them again? Losing them, and then ending up in an alternate world where, even if it's not the one he's spent months and months with, he could see them again? Just for a moment.

It's been six months. It's been six months since Sans has seen Papyrus. Mettaton had gone about 4 months without Napstablook, and he had had the experience of being separated from them for awhile beforehand. How long have Sans and Papyrus ever been apart?

Mettaton makes a decision.]

If you can think of a way to see him without getting us both killed, then do it fast. We don't have much time.

[He turns his back on the tear. He's not letting Sans go back there alone.]

[punful]

[He crosses his arms, trying and failing not to look like he's hugging himself. He grips at the fabric of his hoodie, too tight, wishing he could just pull himself apart until all of this just stops hurting. Wishes he could just stop caring. It used to be so easy. So goddamn easy.]

[He knows what Mettaton is going to say. He knows what anyone in this position would say. They'd tell him to get a goddamn hold of himself. None of this is even real. It's just an event. It's not really Papyrus, and even if it was, this isn't worth it. He's just putting himself and Mettaton in unnecessary danger, all for the chance of just seeing his brother, just once.]

[That's all he wants, and it's too much. This is why he doesn't want things. Even all the little things he could admit to wanting are too much. It's asking too much.]

[But instead, Mettaton meets his gaze, and tells him to choose.]

[Sans's eyesockets widen.]

i...

[He can choose. Mettaton isn't judging him. He's just telling him to choose.]

[The voices are coming closer.]

i can't--i wouldn't put you at risk just for--i'm not that selfish. you don't have to...you can go back through. the tear is...you could just go. you got hurt enough already.

[mettatonvevo]

[Mettaton smiles, a grin reminiscent of a timeline where he faces down impossible odds to buy more time.]

Oh Sans, don't be ridiculous! I'm not going back without you. And we don't have time to argue that fact. So either commit to us trying to see your brother, or commit to going through this tear with me.

[No matter his choice, Mettaton is coming with him. The voices are coming ever closer. Soon they'll be able to make out words and then the choice will be made for Sans.]

[punful]

[Commit. Make a decision, Sans. Make a choice.]

[Put yourself, Mettaton, your brother and your alternate self at risk just for a split-second chance to see Papyrus, or...]

[Or.]



[He's never coming back, is he.]

[He's really never coming back.]




[There's no time for this.]

[Ain't that always the case?]

[Sans squeezes his eyesockets shut for just a moment. It hurts. It hurts, but it always does, and you can get used to anything. Anything at all.]

[So he opens his eyesockets, marches toward Mettaton, and takes his hand. Then he walks forward and tugs Mettaton back through the tear, just before he can make out what Papyrus and the King are saying.]

[They're back in Wonderland.]

[mettatonvevo]

[Mettaton waits, despite his natural instinct to move. They could get caught if he takes too long, but Mettaton is pretty sure he can take a few more hits if he needs to. Sans closes his eyes and Mettaton wonders what decision he made.

Then suddenly he's being tugged along and he looks at Sans, confused.]

Wait. Sans-

[They're both through the tear before Mettaton can protest further. He stops walking right on the outside of the tear, free from the alternate world but still close enough to cross back over if needed.]

I thought you wanted to see him?

[punful]

[He keeps walking. His grip on Mettaton's hand lingers for a moment before he lets go. Then he shoves both hands in his pockets.]

[There's a roaring sound in his skull. Like the ocean. Everything looks...abstract, like he's seeing it through some kind of filter. He can barely hear what Mettaton is saying.]

i can't. that's obvious now.

[If he sees him--if he sees him alive and well and not real, and worlds upon worlds out of reach, then...]

i think it'd kill me.

[He says it like he's commenting on the weather.]

probably get you and him killed too.

[He can hear them approaching the throne room, through several layers of fog.]

i can't--be here. i can't...

let's just go. okay?

[He needs to get away from here. God, he needs to be anywhere else.]

[mettatonvevo]

[Mettaton doesn't question the hand in his, doesn't pull away as Sans keeps holding it until Sans himself drops it. It wasn't a conscious thought at all to keep up the contact; if just felt right to keep it there, keep them connected.]

You... can't?

[He's baffled. Why? Wouldn't this mean the world to him? To see Papyrus?

i think it'd kill me. So casually said. So devoid of anything deeper. He shouldn't ask. He shouldn't dig. But he wants to.]

Sans...

[He was ready. Mettaton had been ready to fight his alternate self to give Sans this chance and it feels odd, now that they're away from it. Hasn't he already done enough? Wasn't stepping through and being there at all already more than was required? Again and again he keeps making the mistake of being there for people when he needs to be pulling away and he should leave this here. Don't push anymore.

He looks behind him, through the tear. They're not there yet. They're not in the throne room but the tone of Papyrus's voice sounds soothing. Perhaps he is successfully de-escalating the situation? Mettaton doesn't know what his kingself's relationship with Papyrus is, but if he's still alive after that display, there has to be some positivity there.]

All right. If you really want to, we can go.

[He'll just. Walk with him for a bit. Make sure Sans gets to where he needs to go and then make his exit. He's already done enough.]

[punful]

[Mettaton sounds like he's speaking through some kind of metal tube. Like a bad speaker. Far-off, tinny, muffled.]

[Papyrus is right back there. He could still stop, turn around, linger at the tear until he sees him. Until he sees him alive and well and completely unreal, just some fake approximation of an alternate timeline concocted by Wonderland. And Sans will let himself believe it's real, like he let himself believe the stars at the Citadel were real, because it's nicer that way.]

[And it would kill him. He knows it would. Even from the relative safety of this side of the tear. Because it's not Papyrus. It's not his Papyrus, it's not either Papyrus who was here, and it's not even Papyrus's Mirror. He's just...an echo. An image on a screen. A photograph. A reminder that he's never actually going to see Papyrus again, that Papyrus is always going to be out of reach.]

[Still hurts, an actual physical pain as his soul wants to collapse on itself, exhaustion forming a deep ache in his bones, the vague sense of vertigo that means he could probably just lie down right here right now and never get up. It's hard to see straight. He has to just--get away. Just not be here.]

[He rounds a corner and he can't hear anything from the tear anymore, and that will have to do, because he's not even sure he can walk any further. It's only then that he notices Mettaton followed him.]

[Mettaton followed him. Stuck with him. He must be worried. He must be--]

[Oh. Sans did it again.]

i did it again.

[Push it down. Push it all away. Stay standing, don't fall, stop being such utter garbage for once in your worthless life.]

i made it all about me. i'm sorry. that--that must've been hard for you. seeing all that.

[Push it away. It's not about you, after all.]

[He scrubs at eyesockets until his eyelights come back, too dim to really be convincing.]

i didn't mean to intrude. sorry.

[mettatonvevo]

[He should leave now. He should go. Sans doesn't look ok at all but he's alive, isn't he? That's the goal here.]

It's all right, Sans. It wasn't that bad.

[Mostly it was confusing. The real horror of it all hasn't set in yet, he thinks, but... that will take some time.

His eyelights are so dim and Mettaton sighs.]

Come here.

[He doesn't have the energy to resist, to fight back his impulse so he embraces it as he embraces Sans, pulling him into his arms and placing a tender hand on the back of his skull as he holds him to his chest.]

I've got you. It's all right.

[punful]

you got hit, though, right?

[There were bullets flying everywhere, and Sans isn't sure if that first electric attack connected or not. Sans takes a step closer to him, looking for any obvious damage.]

[He starts patting at his pockets.]

i don't...have any food on me. just ketchup packets.

[He should help. He should try to actually help for once instead of collapsing inward, instead of making it all about him, instead of thinking too hard about what just happened.]

[Mettaton tells him to come over and Sans just sort of shifts closer, not sure what Mettaton wants.]

could teleport you to the diner. it's usually a safe zone during...

[Mettaton wraps his arms around Sans and holds him tight. One hand cradles the back of his skull.]

[Sans just stands there.]

what're you...

[There's that shattering feeling again.]

...i'm fine. it's nothing. you don't...you don't have to.

[mettatonvevo]

I did get hit, yes.

[It's all right. He has plenty of HP to spare (sort of). The hit was pretty intense, especially since his other self wanted it to kill, but Mettaton has been in worst states thanks to Wonderland. Sans looks around for some food to heal him with and Mettaton smiles.]

Don't worry Sans, we'll find some healing items for me. And I will repair myself for the parts magic can't fix.

[His mirror has his blueprints and has been using it to doctor himself so that he isn't beholden to Mirror Alphys in any way. He's become quite knowledgeable in how they both work and Mettaton has been learning from him. There are still some things that he can never do on his own due to the fact of needing to work on his own unconscious form, but if everything goes according to plan, one day they will be able to help each other in this regard.]

If you think this hug is entirely altruistic, you're wrong. Perhaps I also need one after all of... that.

[It's not a complete lie. He's still trying to process what the hell happened back there and this is grounding. It's nice. If only he could truly relax into it. But he can't risk that.]

[punful]

[He's okay. Or at least he's not hurt badly. They'll find monster food or something. The closets are still working. He'll be fine.]

[Sans still just stands there, being held. Not sure what to do with this. Not sure how to handle it or how to react or whether to react at all.]

[Ah, okay. It's mutual. Mettaton needs to ground himself. Of course, that makes sense. That's fine. Right. Sans was making it all about himself again. Is he ever going to stop?]

[He rests his forehead against Mettaton's chest. He's tired. So goddamn tired.]

some event, huh.

[mettatonvevo]

[Mettaton nods a bit, his arms tightening just a little around Sans. He. He wants to hold him tighter, reassure him more, open up about what he saw and how it made him feel and hear what Sans is feeling but. He can't let his guard down. He'll be sucked back into caring about him, back into whatever weird place they are in with each other, and he must stop it.

So instead he gently strokes the back of Sans's head and sighs.]

Some event indeed.

[He stands there for a moment, quiet. Then against his better judgement he speaks.]

You'll see him again one day. Whether it's here or back home. You'll see him again.

[punful]

[He can't. He can't do this. He can't keep leaning on people, can't keep being such a burden, and he also just--can't stand on his own. He just can't. He's tried. He's tried, and what he has to show for it is a bedroom that's more empty and more a disaster than it's ever been, two kids who hate him, strained relationships with everyone else, and a missing cat. He's tried, and he just. Can't. He's been steadily functioning less and less as things get worse and worse, as people leave or wise up to what he is or he pushes them away.]

[So maybe that's all this is. Maybe he's standing here letting Mettaton comfort him when it should be the other way around because he just can't do this alone. Maybe the dreams from a few events ago were right, and he's just using Mettaton and the rest of them as replacements for Papyrus. Mettaton is even stroking his skull the way Papyrus would when Sans let his guard down and tell the truth for once.]

[Maybe that's why he can't bring himself to pull back.]

[Maybe that's why something catches in his chest when Mettaton tells him he'll see Papyrus again. He's going to break down. He knows he is, can feel it coming, and he just needs to put it off until Mettaton is gone so he can do it in private where he won't bother anyone and no one will be the wiser.]

[He's not going to cry in front of Mettaton. He's not going to do that to him after Mettaton just had to see one of the worst endings for himself.]

not here.

[He thought he'd accepted it months and months ago. Thought he'd accepted it when he sat in an empty room that had once belonged to his brother. Gone like he'd never even existed.]

[Turns out it wasn't really acceptance. It was just not getting his hopes up.]

he's never coming back here. the version who was here. i'll never see him again. ever.

[They'll never talk about the metal plate on Papyrus's hand. They'll never reach the point where they can talk about it, where Sans can understand and Papyrus can be comfortable and safe in the fact that someone who's not technically his brother can at least relate to him about it. They'll never reconcile what happened with Papyrus's Mirror. They'll never talk about what happened between them in Neverland. Sans will never really be able to get over what happened in the tunnels, almost a year ago now.]

[And Papyrus will never again have to even think about gathering his brother's dust into a jar. About seeing his brother die at the hands of someone who looked exactly like him. And that should be the only thing that matters--that Papyrus gets to be spared that, at least.]

[It's fine. It should be fine. It is what it is. In the real world, people so rarely get closure. People come and go, things happen, and sometimes it just doesn't happen. It's just another hole in the bottomless pit that is your life.]

no one from the underground has shown up here since napstablook. it's not going to happen. there will never be a papyrus in wonderland again.

he's not coming back. he's...

[And that's for the best. He wouldn't wish this place on anyone. It's for the best. He should be happy for his brother. He should be happy.]

[Why can't he ever just be happy? He was happy on the Citadel. It was easy. Why isn't it always that easy?]

...it shouldn't be about that, anyway. it's not about me.

[He's still just sort of hanging limp in Mettaton's hold. It feels like his legs are about to give out.]

[mettatonvevo]

[Grief. That's what Sans is experiencing here. Grief. Because he's right. The exact Papyrus, the one he had gotten attached to over all that time, will never be here again. Even if he had the same memories, the same past, without the specific memories of Wonderland, he'd never truly understand what Sans has gone through.]

That is true. He'll never be back in the same way he was before. But that's not the end of the world. That's not the end of everything.

[He can hear it in Sans's voice that he's close to breaking. He should have stepped away, should have left him alone. But he was there for him, wasn't he? After Bill? And yes, seeing himself as a king, ready and willing to kill blindly and selfishly for no reason is jarring and painful but does that mean he can't do this too?]

It's ok. If you need to let it out, let it out.

[The guilt grips him intensely. He's a failure. An utter failure. He can't pull away, can't bring himself to, and that makes him a failure.]

And what's to say this can't be about both of us, hm? Maybe I want to hold you. Maybe it feels like if I have you here then I can pretend that I'll never end up like him.

[A lie. But it's a nice one.]

So just... bear with me. I shouldn't be- I mean, doing this is... I'm pushing too much. I know. But until I am better, you can accept this, at least.

[Until the day Mettaton finally pulls away for real, you can accept this.]

[punful]

[It's not the end of the world. Of course it's not the end of the world. If every time Papyrus died the world ended, there would have been a hell of a lot more aborted timelines. Papyrus isn't the center of the universe. How silly. Ridiculous. It's not a big deal. It shouldn't mean anything at all.]

[He used to not care. It used to be easy. He'd find dust in the snow, and it wouldn't matter, because in a few hours or days time would just roll back and Papyrus would be alive again.]

[Maybe that's it. People leaving Wonderland--he's always thought of it like a Reset. But it's not, not quite. Because a Reset would mean that they come back. And it would Reset for everyone, all at once. It wouldn't be this...ongoing thing, where you lose people and you have lost them, and they never come back.]

[A year and a half and he still can't get used to time being anything but a flat circle.]

[It's not the end of the world.]

it might as well be.

[It would be kinder. It would be a thousand times kinder than this. Than having to figure out how to continue without him, and failing so utterly. Having to lean on everyone else around him just to keep going. Just to stay standing. Just to avoid sitting down somewhere and not getting up.]

[Not like it would even matter. He'd be back in two days anyway.]

[Mettaton tells him he can let it out and Sans takes a shaky breath. He finally reaches up and...doesn't quite hug Mettaton back. He just sort of holds on.]

can't.

[He can't. He won't. It shouldn't even matter. It's not the end of the world. None of this should be about him. None of this has anything to do with him.]

[Maybe Mettaton wants to hold him. Maybe Mettaton wants to pretend that he'll never end up like the King.]

you're not. you're not him. [He pauses. This is the only thing he can do. The only way he can think to actually, maybe, try and help.]

people can do anything if pushed far enough. doesn't mean you'll...become him. won't happen. not in this timeline.

[It won't. Something that happens in one timeline doesn't necessarily affect things in other timelines. It doesn't work like that. Not unless you remember it, at least. Not unless the whole thing, the whole awareness, grinds you down into nothing, until you're virtually the same no matter what happens, no matter how good or bad things go, no matter who survives or who dies.]

[So it's no wonder Frisk, Chara and Asriel are the way they are. And it's no wonder Sans is the way he is.]

[And there it is again. How Mettaton shouldn't be doing this. How he shouldn't be--what, close to people? Sans shifts a little against him.]

you're...not. you're not pushing.

[It's important. It's important that Mettaton understands this.]

you're...you let me choose. i thought you'd...yell and try to convince me to just. go back. or you'd drag me through the tear yourself. you didn't. you didn't push. you let me...

[His grip tightens. His control is wavering.]

th-thank you for letting me choose.

[mettatonvevo]

[it might as well be he says and Mettaton's heart breaks just a little more. It might as well be the end of the world to lose the ones you love. All of reality and existence might as well end as you lock the door to your house one last time, as you make your way to the dump and look out over the yawning abyss that leads to who knows where and, at the last second, toss your key into the piles of junk behind it. It all might as well be done when you force yourself to not think about how long they may linger by your house, unable to overcome their social anxiety and politeness to pass through the door and confirm it for themselves that he's gone.

It might as well be the end of the world, and you ended it.]

I know it feels like it. It's painful and awful and it may take a very long time but you can learn to stand on your own. Even if it feels like your soul has been cleaved in two. You can make yourself whole again and then when you see them again, which you will, you'll be able to stand with them.

[It's a hope he had for himself, and something he thought he might achieve while in Wonderland but... now he knows better.]

You can, if you want. I won't judge. You saw me cry not too long ago, right? Think of it as me paying you back in kind.

[Not in this timeline, he says. But that's not the point here. The point is that it can happen. That this is something that is a part of Mettaton. That if the circumstances are right, if everything falls into place, he can become this. Mettaton now has tangible evidence that his selfishness can and would harm people on a grander scale than it already has if he's given this power. He sighs.]

Not now, no. But I have the capability, Sans. To be that Monster who was ready to kill you because you were even remotely threatening. Whose to say that Wonderland might not lead me down the same path?

[Wonderland has a way of corrupting people.]

In my memories, I never killed Frisk. They inexplicably survived everything I threw at them. But I know that's not the truth. They died multiple times to my attacks and I can't pretend that I am not responsible for it because I don't remember; because it didn't personally happen to me.

[He turns his head a bit, looking vaguely in the direction of the tear they left around the corner.]

I can't ignore what I can be, Sans. He's Mettaton and I am Mettaton and no matter how much I want to, I can't disown him from my reality.

[He doesn't know what he'll become here. He knows that if he follows his Mirror's teaching, re-aligns himself with how he's supposed to be, the selfish, talented star, that he'll forget a lot of this. That this won't even matter to him. So this is a moot point. All of this is a moot point.]

...I won't lie to you Sans, I considered it. I considered picking you up and carrying you through the tear because...

[I was worried. I didn't want you to die.]

But I know how much he means to you. I was ready to do whatever needed to be done so you could see him. Perhaps that was foolish of me.

[No perhaps. Was. It was foolish of him. He could've gotten killed over Sans for goodness sake which he shouldn't have ever considered because Sans isn't supposed to mean that much to him. But choice is important.]

In the end, however, it was still your choice. It needed to be yours. I couldn't take that from you.

[Not now. Not after everything they've spoken of, not after... not while he...

He's not supposed to mean this much. But he does.]