Chapter Text
Prologue
All Tenna could feel was cold. He was cradled by the ice, the cold searing against his metal skin. Everything was black, darker than dark. As he stared into the inky void, he realized he couldn't see. He couldn't move. He couldn't even feel his body. He tried to wiggle his fingers, but he couldn't feel them at all. Where was he?
Suddenly he heard a sound like white noise, moving all around him, growing louder. The sound slowly became clearer, turning into voices he thought maybe he recognized. Their words were unintelligible, but seemingly frantic. As Tenna was slipping in and out of consciousness, sinking into the tar of nothing, he expected to be afraid of this moment, but instead he felt nothing. For so long, he was deathly afraid of being forgotten, condemned to a Darkner's death, but now that it seemed like it was here, he hardly had any energy to fight anymore. Death was outstretching its icy, skeletal hand to Tenna, and he was ready to take it. He was ready to give a lifetime of weight on his shoulders back to the world and step into the void.
But then he saw colors floating in front of him, like when Kris and Asriel used to put magnets to his screen years ago. The colorful clouds became clearer and revealed themselves to be Darkners surrounding him, concerned and afraid. A green Pippins was at his side with tears in his eyes and black all over his hands, holding strange, oil streaked tubes. Tenna thought he could hear him say that everything was all going to be okay, but he wasn't sure who exactly he was speaking to, whether it was Tenna or himself. He could also see a couple other Darkners, a Shadowguy and a Zapper standing in the corner. He could see now that he was inside the empty Green Room.
"Mike? Where's Mike?" Tenna said weakly.
"Oh, Boss!" The pippins said in a broken voice. "You want Mike? He'll be here. I just need to… to help you first." His voice was shaky, like he was holding back more tears.
Tenna tried to lift himself up, but he still couldn't feel his arms. He started to regain feeling in the rest of his body, but for some reason, he still had no feeling in his hands or arms. He leaned his head back against the cold, linoleum floor.
"I can't feel my hands. I can't feel my arms." Tenna managed, though his voice sounded strange and distorted, like the signal was weak. He was barely audible over the TV snow that played over his voice. Something was wrong. He was broken.
"I know, Boss," the Pippins' voice broke. "I'm doing the best that I can. It's… It's gonna be okay. We can fix this, right?" He turned to the other Darkners in the corner, who didn't respond. "Go get help!" he shouted at them. They both quickly left the room, leaving the two alone.
Tenna looked back at the Pippins again, looking at the pipes he was cradling in his arms. He saw that the ends of the pipes had white fabric stained black by oil. They looked strange to him. "What are you…?" He started to ask, before he trailed off, realizing what he was looking at.
This Pippins was holding two arms. He was holding his arms.
Tenna's world began to spin. He thought he was going to be sick, if a TV could be sick.
The Pippins began to cry. "The Knight, Boss, they… They d-double crossed you. Don't worry, we're gonna give 'em the b-business, as soon as we get you fixed up. It's… it's gonna be okay. Ain't nothin' a little d-duct tape can't fix, right?" He seemed to so desperately try to keep it together.
Tenna began to breathe heavily as his panic got the better of him. Then he blacked out.
Chapter 1
The light filtered through Hapstablook's draped windows, resilient against his attempts to shut out the outside world. The light was a beautiful pink haze through their pink curtains, giving his room a dreamy rose fog. It was sunset already. How quickly the day had gone by, Hapstablook thought to himself. He woke up late again. It always made him feel guilty to waste the day, but ever since the internet had gone out, he was forced into spending a little too much time with his own thoughts. It was only a matter of time before he slipped into his depression hibernation. He missed his online friends. He missed posting his art. He missed having an escape from his tiny little world. It was suffocating.
The other day, a couple of teens came by and knocked on the door. They asked for Hapstablook, which was strange. Hapstablook wasn't even sure that people remembered who he was in this town anymore. He recognized Kris. That was Asgore's son, who owned the flower shop next door. But he didn't recognize the purple dragon girl. Hapstablook thought it was some kind of prank, but they both seemed really nice. They even promised to bring him something for entertainment in this internet drought. He hoped maybe they would come back. They probably wouldn't though. Hapstablook didn't want to get his hopes up.
He sighed and reached for his drawing tablet. He took it to bed and opened up the art program. All of his recent projects were the same concept. He was working on a new design for a character named Mettaton. Really it was a sona for himself, sporting his dream body. The design was fabulous. Mettaton had a beautiful, slender robot body, with long legs for dancing and gorgeous hair. It was everything he wanted to be. It was everything that he was not.
Hapstablook leaned back and started to mindlessly sketch when he heard a knock at the door that startled him. He could hear his cousin Maddie downstairs yelling at the door. He put down his tablet and floated downstairs into the living room.
"Who is it?" Hapstablook asked.
"They're asking for you," Maddie grumbled. "Since when did you make new friends?"
"I… didn't." Hapstablook looked out the peephole and saw Kris and the purple dragon girl outside. He cracked open the door.
"Is that you again, darling? My only fan?" Hapstablook's voice dripped with sarcasm, although there was a sliver of hope somewhere within his words.
Kris mumbled something about a free TV, and asked Hapstablook if he would want to take it.
"What? You want to give me… your TV?" Hapstablook hesitated. "I don't understand. Is there some kind of catch?"
Then Susie spoke up. "Uh, it's scuffed, old, and the colors are kinda messed up…" She really knew how to sell this TV. Susie continued, "But it's, uh… really good. It's a really good TV."
"I see." Hapstablook paused. "Could you bring it on by?"
"Uh, yeah! Of course! Wait a sec!" Then Susie and Kris hurried away, and Hapstablook closed the door. What exactly did he get himself into? He hoped he was doing the right thing. Horror stories of old TVs full of bugs or other gross terrors filled his mind. He hoped they weren't trying to prank him. The whole thing seemed strange to him, but his gut told him to go along with it.
Before Hapstablook could let his worries get the best of him and talk him out of it, he heard another knock at the door. He opened it and saw the little CRT sitting at his front doorstep. Something about the scene reminded him of a baby in a basket at the steps of an orphanage. It seemed helpless, and it tugged at Hapstablook's heart strings.
"Oh my, it's a handsome little thing, isn't it? What's the brand?" Hapstablook asked.
"Uh, I dunno, but his name is Tenna." Susie shrugged.
A TV with a name? How peculiar. It must've been a well loved little TV before it ended up here, that much was obvious. He could see the years of wear in the little scratches in the plastic body and the shine of the buttons from years of oily fingers pushing on them.
"Your TV has a name?" Hapstablook was endeared to this strange little TV. It seemed special, and Hapstablook couldn't help but be drawn to all things special.
"No. I mean, uh, yeah, but just like a nickname." Susie smiled.
"Tenna? Like 'antenna'? How cute…" Hapstablook paused. Maybe this little TV could help distract him from his boredom. "I'll take it." He said, decidedly.
"Really? Hell yeah, Kris! We found him a home!" Susie threw her fist in the air in triumph.
Hapstablook let out a laugh. "Oh my, you two really love this TV, don't you? Well don't worry. I have a feeling Tenna and I are going to get along… 'famously,'" he smiled. He was charmed by these kids and how kindly they treated their TV. It seemed so genuine and kind.
"Cool, well, I'm putting it in your house now." Susie said, before she picked up the TV. It looked heavy, so Hapstablook quickly opened the door and let Susie in.
"Where should I put it?" Susie looked around Hapstablook's house, and he blushed. He didn't usually have guests.
"My room is just upstairs. I'll lead you there." Hapstablook floated up the stairs. He could hear Susie struggle to bring the TV upstairs, but unfortunately as a ghost, there was little he could do to help her. Hapstablook wondered why Kris hadn't come in to help, but decided to not think about it. He was just grateful for something new to come into his life like this.
Hapstablook opened his room and let Susie in. He quickly cleared the top of his dresser. "You can place it here! And thank you so much, darling, for bringing it up the stairs."
Susie hoisted the TV up on top of the dresser. She wiped the top of the TV, which caused a big cloud of dust to form over Tenna's head. Her hand was covered in gray, which she quickly brushed off on her jeans. "Uh, yeah! It's no problem. We're just happy to find him a home where he'll be appreciated."
Hapstablook looked at Tenna's sad little broken antenna taped up with duct tape. "What happened to him?"
Susie looked away, like she was unsure of what to say. "Yeah, sorry, he's uh… old. But we did our best to fix him up pretty good." She rubbed the back of her neck with her palm. "Well, uh, I'll go now. Thanks for taking him." Susie smiled earnestly.
"Oh of course, let me show you out!" Hapstablook led Susie to the door and waved goodbye to both of the teenagers before closing his door and rushing back upstairs into his room. He had to investigate more about this TV.
He looked the TV up and down. Aside from some cosmetic wear, it didn't look so bad! He looked behind the TV for a power cord and plugged it in. He held his breath when he pressed the power button, but nothing happened. The screen stayed black, lifeless.
Hapstablook frowned. He hoped he wouldn't have to open this thing up, seeing as he didn't really have any experience fixing technology like this. That being said, he remembered when he and his cousins were younger, and their GameCube wasn't working. Blooky had put their hands on the GameCube to try and possess the game console, trying to see if it was receiving any power. Maybe Hapstablook could try that as well with this TV.
Hapstablook placed his ghostly hands on the screen of the TV and closed his eyes, trying to focus on possessing the TV. Just then, he felt a push back against him. He couldn't do it, as if something else was already inside.
He took a deep breath and tried it again, trying to focus his energy into his hands, but then he felt something physically push back against his hands. It almost felt like… someone's hands against his own.
Hapstablook gasped, pulling his hands away. His eyes were wide. What could cause something like that? Obviously he was just imagining what he felt, right? Certainly there wasn't a ghost already in the TV. That might be worse than horrible bugs infesting the old thing.
Hapstablook shook his head. It was ridiculous. He probably just did it wrong. He figured he'd ask Blooky to check the TV when they got home from work.
"Sorry, Tenna, darling. I'm not the most experienced with tech like this. I'm not really sure how to turn you on." Hapstablook giggled to himself. "Excuse me, I'm not really sure how to power you up, I mean." He turned the TV to get a better look at the back, to see if he could get any clues on how to fix it.
Just like that, he heard the familiar digital whine of a CRT TV powering on. It was a nostalgic sound. He quickly turned the TV back around to face the screen forward. On the screen was an alligator sitting on top of a sports car in a bikini. Hapstablook turned the volume up to hear 90s rock playing, though he didn't recognize the band. The alligator woman was gorgeous. She had long legs and beautiful blonde hair.
"Tenna, you cad. What is this… salacious music video?" Hapstablook smiled, blushing. "Oh my, I think something just awakened within me," he joked.
Then just like that, the signal was lost. The loud white noise startled Hapstablook, who rushed to turn the volume down. He reached for the broken antenna, trying to get the signal back, but when he touched it, it broke off completely.
"Oh, Tenna, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize this was so delicate." He grabbed the antenna off the floor, placing it next to the TV. "Here, let me see, what's your brand? Maybe we can order a replacement to fix that."
He grabbed his cellphone and started his investigation. Soon, he was ordering spare parts, excited to put Tenna back together again.
"When we're done here, Tenna, love, you'll be good as new!"
Hapstablook sighed, laying in his bed. He put his phone down. He figured that was all he could do for today. He ordered Tenna a new set of antennas as well as a pair of speakers. He also ordered a VHS player and a couple of his favorite movies on tape. For now, he wondered what he could do with Tenna while he waited for everything to arrive.
Hapstablook remembered Blooky had owned a GameCube, though it had been years since they played together. He wondered if Blooky even still had it, but it was worth an ask. It was late, but he was sure Blooky was still up, scrolling through music forums or something.
Hapstablook left his room and walked over to Blok's door. He knocked the door and heard a soft, "Come in…" so he opened it.
"Hey, Blooky! Do you still have that old GameCube?" He saw Blooky laying on the ground with headphones over their head. Blooky slid their headphones off and sat up. "Oh yeah… It's in my closet…" They slowly got up and floated over to the closet doors in their room. "It's somewhere in here…"
"Sorry to bother you, Blooky… I got a new TV, but it's broken so it won't receive a signal. I thought maybe I could try and see if it would play games. Maybe we could… play them together." Hapstablook could see into Blok's closet. There were stacks of CDs, some band CDs and others were mixtapes made by Blooky. There was also a MIDI collecting dust, leaned up against a few "How to Mix Music for Dummies" books.
Blooky pulled out a large storage box labeled "Old Stuff" and opened the lid. Hapstablook would've sneezed at the cloud of dust that came off the old thing, if he had a nose. Then Blooky handed Hapstablook a little purple GameCube with a few games stacked on top. "Here it is… I don't really feel like playing games right now, but you can use it as long as you want… Sorry."
"No! Thank you, Blooky! That's okay, whenever you feel like it, it would be… fun to play together again." Hapstablook smiled. He took the GameCube and left Napstablook to continue their… fun lying on the ground time.
Hapstablook set the GameCube next to the TV on the cabinet and began plugging it all in. He grabbed for the controller, and the worn down button sticks panged his heart a little. They made him think of a simpler time.
He turned the TV on and switched it to channel 3. He held his breath as he turned the GameCube on, hoping it would still work. A familiar little jingle played and the GameCube logo appeared on the screen, making Hapstablook let out a little squeal of excitement. He looked through the games and picked one he thought Tenna might like: Harvest Moon.
He popped the game in the console and started playing. Thankfully, Napstablook had the version where you play as a girl. It's the only way to date all the cute bachelors, and the dresses were prettier than the boy clothing options anyway. After a couple hours, his eyelids started to feel heavy. He tried to push through, having a lot of fun with his nostalgia, but eventually he couldn't stay up anymore. He turned everything off and floated over to his bed, curling up in his blanket, happier than he'd been all week. He drifted to sleep with a big smile on his face.
"Goodnight, Tenna…"
Right as Hapstablook drifted off into sleep, that familiar whine played again, and the glow of the TV illuminated the entire room.