Her Majesty

Chapter XX - The Longing

Mettaton, to be fair, was a little bored at first.

Granted, in many ways, he was grateful to be bored, considering what lack of boredom had meant over the past day. But then, Mettaton was also one who loved to be busy; it was why life with Alices had been so interesting. Between her work on his bodies and her secrets, things were never boring with the doctor.

He sighed, his thoughts now on Alices, even as he continued to look around and pace. He wondered what exactly was happening to her and Undyne, and not just lurid details, either.

He wished he could be there, be at her side, make sure she was okay.

He was surprised by this, truly, but there it was.

He wondered: was it curiosity, or his recent realisation that Alices meant a lot to him, and not just for what she did to make his life easier?

He frowned, pausing for a moment. He stood still and focused ahead, manipulating the lenses of his eyes in order to see further and clearer. He caught a flash of movement, but it was going along, not towards, him, so he relaxed.

Truly, it didn't seem as if there was a point in his being here. So far, he'd seen no one, not even a curious monster, and he wondered if it was just paranoia on both Undyne and Alices's behalf that he was still here.

But then, he thought about a human finding the way into the mountain, and he felt ill at ease.

Better to be safe, he figured.

So he kept his vision sharp, only pausing to check his phone. He'd told one of his cousins the truth, in order to have someone below watchful for him, and every so often he'd get a text from Napstablook, saying that people were scared and impatient but too afraid to do anything.

This is good, Mettaton decided. Better everyone stay in place, than come up here and cause chaos.

Except, from what Alices said, the humans... at least some of them... had been expecting them. That was both weird and suspicious.

Then he sighed, rubbing his forehead. And yet Alices apparently trusted them enough to let her guard down. Hell, Undyne trusted them enough, too. That was also either weird, or a good sign.

Admittedly, he was a little jealous of the two.

The kind of physical love they'd recently shared was one of the few things denied to him the way he was. Granted, there were ways he could be pleasurable for a partner, but when it came to himself, it became rather... complicated, to say the least. He knew that his body could only do so much, and was grateful to have it, but even in this form, he was limited.

Which depressed him, because he was full of affection, and someday wanted to truly share it. So he found himself envious of them both - especially Alices, who he knew had yearned for that for what felt like years: first with King Asgore, then, more intensely, with Undyne.

But then... he was also proud of her. She not only had been brave enough to confess everything to Undyne, but had also been brave enough to be the most vulnerable with her, too.

That, he knew, was not easy for her. Not even a little.

He smiled faintly. Maybe, in this misery, good things can happen, after all.

He certainly hoped so, in any case.

Things... certainly happened. That was true.

When the two electrocuted boyfriends woke up, it was almost morning.

The first guy, named Joel, woke up first, not quite remembering what happened before he woke up Ahmed, his boyfriend.

"s**t," said Ahmed drowsily. "Did we pass out?"

Joel was about to admit he didn't know, until suddenly he remembered, and grabbed onto Ahmed tight, startling him.

"Ahmed," he murmured, starting to tremble. "Did what I remember happened actually happen?"

Ahmed sat up and pulled him close, kissing his forehead and stroking his hair for a moment, hoping to calm him down. He hated it when Joel got scared.

Joel moved close, burying his face into Ahmed's neck, still shaking. "It's okay, hon," he murmured softly. "Just take a sec, okay?"

Joel nodded.

"If you remember being zapped by what were clearly two monsters, then yes, it happened," Ahmed added, his tone a little dry.

"Holy s**t," Joel whispered. "I was so hoping I was just drunk..."

"Half a beer doesn't get you drunk, love, no matter how much of a lightweight you may be," Ahmed teased.

"Hurrhurr," Joel answered, though he did smile, something that Ahmed was happy to see.

"Come on," Ahmed said, slowly getting to his feet, before helping Joel do the same. "Let's just go back and get some coffee and pretend we're crazy."

"But, sweetie," Joel protested. "We're not!"

Ahmed sighed, slipping an arm around Joel's waist and pulling him close. "I know. Let's just go."

By the time they'd made it to the corner store, it was well into morning. They'd had to walk slow, both rather shaky and nauseated from that shock, so it took them far longer to walk down the mountain than it had going up.

They walked in and were surprised to see the clerk staring at the door already, her eyes huge and her hands clutching the side of the counter. She visibly jumped when she saw the two walk in.

"H-hello," she stammered.

"Hi...?" Ahmed answered, noticing that Joel was clearly too tired to deal with people this early, judging by the way he leaned against him and sighed.

"Uh," the clerk added, as they walked in and moved towards the coffee station. "Did either of you happen to see...?"

Joel looked over at her, curious. Ahmed pretended not to notice, busying himself with getting them both coffees.

"See what?" Joel asked.

"Uh," the clerk said, her voice odd. "Well, maybe it's still early, but... hey, is there an anime convention going on in town?"

Ahmed snorted. "In this place? Please."

The clerk went pale at that, biting down on her lip at the same time.

Joel moved away from Ahmed, surprising him; Joel was usually very shy. "You saw someone dressed up for a con?"

"I..." The clerk shifted a little on her feet. "Think so?"

"You saw them," Joel answered sharply. Ahmed looked up, reaching out and touching his arm lightly, but Joel shook his head. "You did, didn't you?"

"Saw who?" the clerk wondered, blushing.

"Saw two... people," Joel elaborated, going right up to the counter. "One with red hair, really tall, the other yellow, in a coat?"

"Is this a joke?" she snapped back. "Who the hell are you? Is this a show or something? Because if it is, f**k you."

Ahmed was immediately at Joel's side. "Hey," he answered sharply. "Don't talk to him like that! It's a simply, serious question, believe it or not!"

The clerk looked at them closely, but also with obvious suspicion. They glared back, their indignation obviously genuine. She finally sighed, leaned over the counter, and rubbed her forehead.

"Yeah," she agreed at last. "I saw them. If this is a joke, whatever. But yeah, I saw them both. They came in, bought coffee and junk food, then ran out as if I lit their feet on fire."

"They... they're monsters," Joel said, his voice soft and his face pale and drawn. "They admitted it."

The clerk slowly stood back up to her full height, her eyes narrowed. "You're for real, aren't you? You're not yanking my chain."

"Why would we joke about something so stupid-sounding?" Ahmed answered.

"But, come on, monsters?" she laughed, though it was obviously on edge and very uneasy. "Like in the nursery rhymes?"

"You saw them," Joel answered. "What else could they be? No cosplayers look that good, and they admitted it to us!"

"That's true," Ahmed agreed. "Right along with showing us actual magic."

The clerk stared at Ahmed, now, speechless. He nodded. "That's how we felt, too. But the tall one had blue spears, and the short one shocked us with her phone."

Joel shivered, moving closer to Ahmed. Clearly, the memory still frightened him. Ahmed pulled him close and handed him a coffee, and he smiled gratefully.

"Okay," the clerk said. "So, if I'm not crazy, and you're both not crazy, then they really were monsters, and they're now loose in the city."

"Yup," Ahmed agreed.

"Does that mean..." She paused, thinking. "The stories said that monsters were sealed underground beneath the mountain, right?"

When both guys nodded, she went on. "So, the seal is gone now or something?"

"They didn't want us going up the mountain," Ahmed said. "They were going to attack us if we did."

"There's something they don't want us to see?" the clerk concluded.

"Sorry, but, I'm not going back there," Joel broke in sharply. "That tall one, the one with the spears? She was... scary. Really, really scary. Something about her was just... not right. The short one was okay, though freaky-looking, but the tall one?" He shuddered. "I thought I was gonna piss myself, and not from the beer."

"I felt a little bit of that, too," the clerk admitted.

"So what the hell do we do?" Ahmed wondered.

That was the question, indeed. One neither of them had an answer to.