Chapter Text
All is quiet and calm within Tenna’s suite. A pair of gloves was thrown off to the side and a red tailcoat was hung on an armchair. It was late at night and only one person would be insane enough to still be awake during the witching hours.
The man of the hour, the beloved show host that everyone knows and loves, is resting in his plush armchair. Or at least, Tenna tries to relax the best he could in a chair that seems to become more uncomfortable the longer he stays still. Tenna grips his armchair even tighter, a glass of whiskey in hand.
A day ago, the TV host caught wind that the Dreemurr family and the Holidays, funny enough, are on holiday for the week. Nobody was home to watch him, nobody was there to witness his carefully crafted shows. Little Kris and Asriel, their lively laughs and frivolous antics, are nowhere in sight. The ever so sweet Toriel and Asgore, they too are also gone. No cooking shows, nor cowboy flicks.
“There has to be something to do, right? I can plan more boards, more games, more fun!” Tenna frantically exclaimed multiple times around his studio, getting worried glances from his dear Pippins and Shadowguys. Tenna’s spiraling eventually leads him to his office.
Tenna was in his small office room, looking down at multiple scripts which were supposed to be enacted during the week, but were collecting dust on his desk. The television host thought that looking over and correcting his scripts could help him pass the time, especially with that little Mailman gone for the moment, most likely busy with his own work. While skimming through his scripts, Tenna hears a knock on his door.
“Tenna, dear, are you okay?” asks one voice, a tone as sweet as rain.
“Can we come in?” another voice asks, soft like the light of the moon. Tenna drops his pencil in surprise and quickly fixes his tie. His antennas adjust themselves to be straight back up.
“Yes, yes! Come in!” Tenna answers in faux joy, hands resting on his desk. Great, something to help soothe his mind or keep it busy. The door opens up, now allowing two figures to walk into the host’s cramped room. Tenna perks up a little. “Elnina, Lanino! Fancy seeing you two here!” Tenna says with a seemingly strained smile. The weather duo stand in silence, glancing at each other and going back to look at Tenna.
“I think we need to talk, Tenna dear,” states Elnina. Lanino pulls two chairs, one for himself and his love. They both sit in front of the television host, Tenna’s antennas dropping a little.
“...Anything you two have in mind? Maybe a new weather segment, or maybe a weather themed board! That’s a great idea, maybe I can do that!” Tenna says as he snaps with his fingers.
“No, not that Tenna, we were going to talk to you about something else…” Lanino interrupts. Oh, they’re really going to rip the bandaid right off, aren’t they?
“Tenna, we’ve both noticed-” Elnina starts off.
“-that you seem stressed,” Lanino ends off.
“Me? Stressed? No, no! I’m all fine, everything is swell actually! See? I’m working on those new boards, y’know, for when those sweet angels Kris and Asriel come back! Actually, that reminds, I need to get back to making that weather board-”
“Tenna.” The stern voice of Elnina snaps Tenna out of his little spiel, Tenna feels a little smaller.
“...Tenna, we were thinking about something. Maybe you should take a little break, just for a few days. Everyone needs a break once in a while, right?” Lanino proposes.
“Break? HAHA! Looks like we have a comedian in the crowd folks!”
“We’re serious,” Lanino adds on. Tenna sighs out in somewhat defeat.
“Oh Tenna, don’t deflate like that. Look on the sunny side! We will pitch a special episode after the break. How does that sound?” Elnina proposes on the side of Lanino.
‘That sounds nice…a small break isn’t too bad,” Tenna ponders.
“Alright, it’s a deal you two!” Tenna announces as he uses both his hands to shake the hands of the weather duo. “Everyone’s allowed to go home today and for the week (just this once, this is probably never happening again) !” Tenna decrees.
“ALL OF US TAKING LEAVE?” a new voice sounds out, a stray Pippins peeking from the door. They run away to the rest of the employees in the studio. “NEWS, NEWS! VERY BIG NEWS!” Tenna hears as the Pippins’ voice echoes through the halls. Tenna rubs his boxy frame, maybe this was a mistake.
“Since this is all settled-” Lanino starts.
“We’ll be taking our leaves. Rest well, Tenna!” Elnina ends off with. Tenna waves off the weather duo as they exit his office, both of them lovingly hand in hand. All of this culminates Tenna to his current predicament, sitting in his dim suite. He takes a sip of his neat whiskey, the drink going straight down. His fingers tap on the arm rest in unrest. He pulls his suspenders to straighten them. He messes with his tailcoat which is resting on the back of the chair. He needs something to do.
‘Maybe I should go somewhere…it’s not like I’m going to have a chance like this again…I could see Cyber City with-’
THUMP
Tenna’s thoughts are immediately halted. His internal fans activate for a second, until he realizes that the sound was probably just someone else from a nearby suite room. Maybe he’d find a space a little more private but this suite would do. Tenna sets his drink down on the side table and slouches back into his arm chair. He shuts his screen off. A rest should hopefully clear his mind. It is way too late anyways.
Ambient noises sound off for a little, nothing too crazy. The TV host prepares his systems to enter sleep mode, but something feels off. What are those little clicking noises-
SMASH
Tenna’s screen immediately flickers on and the host jumps right out of his chair. He grabs his head in pain, only for the case to feel a little sticky. Someone just smashed a bottle of liquor right into the side of his head. Tenna quickly spins around on his heels and grabs the wrist of his attacker.
“Now what in the…no, no! That can’t be right!” Tenna yells as he analyzes his attacker, failing to notice the extremely quick footsteps behind him. Before he knew it, Tenna felt something wet hit the side of his body. The next thing Tenna knew, his left arm and legs started shaking.
Water.
Someone splashed water onto him. His legs and arm, they start to release putrid smoke. Angel, it hurt like hell! Tenna has suffered malfunctions on very rare occasions, but nothing like this! Instinctively, he takes a few steps back, though his legs could not stop shaking. Eventually, his legs gave in and collapsed.
CRACK
False relief. Good news, his left arm doesn’t hurt anymore. Bad news, his arm is gone…gone, gone, gone- there are more footsteps. With his only good arm, Tenna sits himself up to look at the commotion. Multiple figures are standing before him. Tenna shuffles back, using his arm to push himself. Heavily panting, he keeps backing up and backing up and then thud , his back hits the wall. Tenna looked in front of him. If he had eyes, they would be wide in fear.
“H-hey folks, look, there’s no need for violence everyone (please) ! Haha…” Tenna’s smile falters. He sees his attackers creep closer towards him. His attackers, they were, they were!...well. Does it matter? Nobody is here to hear him.
A few pairs of grubby hands hold onto his shoulders and arm. His limbic modules and motor functions, they’re almost all down, no need for further restraint. One pair of hands were gently placed onto his head. One on the base of his head and one on the top.
“Wait, stop, what are you doing! Please, we can come to settle on something. Please, PLEASE!” Tenna’s fans kick in again as the hands on his head tighten. “I’m sorry, I’M SORRY, please let go! What did I do wrong?” In response, his assailant started to pull his head upwards.
Wires started to strain, Tenna’s hand started to twitch in pain. But, the hands still stood steady, sustaining a tenacious grip on his oh so delicate head. Wires around his neck kept stretching and then, snap . Tenna’s systems could not detect any vocal interference. Tenna tried to scream, but only droning and static came out. Another snap sounded out, his visual cortex failed. His screen went blank. He couldn’t see anything, he still wanted to scream.
A lone wire still tried to cling onto Tenna. It was the only wire connecting his head to his body and it was trying to stay strong. But, the wire could only take so much, eventually starting to stretch. Tenna kept being bombarded with warnings, he wanted to cover his sound receiver.
[SHUTDOWN IMMINENT] — [MAINTENANCE NEEDED IMMEDIATELY]
[SHUTDOWN IMMINENT] — [MAINTENANCE NEEDED IMMEDIATELY]
[SHUTDOWN IMMINENT] — [IN 10, 9, 8-]
The wire kept trying to persist but the hands kept pulling. Tenna had only one thing left in his mind.
‘I don’t want to die.’
The wire started to tear.
‘I DON’T WANT TO DIE.’
‘I DON’T WANT TO DIE.’
‘I DON’T WANT TO DIE.’
Snap
All feeling was lost. All connection was lost. Everything, like his arm, was gone. Tenna had shut down.