[Asriel is completely silent as Mettaton speaks, and at some point he looks away. Everything he says hurts. He's been hurt so much by Determination - seen the cruel reality that he and Frisk lived in. Asriel may not know what Mettaton means by "controlling the masses", but he's seen so many different timelines and outcomes from his own resetting that he can make a guess at what kind of cruelty that Mettaton fears.
Asriel can't make any promises that this outcome can't - or won't exist. But a long while after Mettaton speaks, Asriel slowly reaches for his hand and picks it up in his own. He stares out at the long stretch of land ahead of them, a path that will eventually lead them home.]
I can't tell you not to be afraid.
[Even with his soul, Asriel doesn't know what the future has in store for them. Determination was a power that did amazing things, but it could be just as awful and cruel too. It was a power that shouldn't exist.]
But you're talking to someone who knows all about being afraid of the kind of person you could turn out to be. That person who can be really cruel, who wants to "control" the future and make it theirs.
But that outcome you saw, that's not the only one that exists.
[What Mettaton must be talking about is LOVE. And surely the both of them have gained some LOVE while aboard this ship.]
... I know that doesn't exactly make that one outcome any less scary, huh? But I think you do care, a lot more than you think you do. That's why you didn't want to tell me, right?
It's not going to feel okay, everything that's already happened to you. Seeing all those timelines and outcomes... it's enough to drive any human or monster insane. And with everything we've already suffered, and the fact that you can bring yourself to care...
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Asriel can't make any promises that this outcome can't - or won't exist. But a long while after Mettaton speaks, Asriel slowly reaches for his hand and picks it up in his own. He stares out at the long stretch of land ahead of them, a path that will eventually lead them home.]
I can't tell you not to be afraid.
[Even with his soul, Asriel doesn't know what the future has in store for them. Determination was a power that did amazing things, but it could be just as awful and cruel too. It was a power that shouldn't exist.]
But you're talking to someone who knows all about being afraid of the kind of person you could turn out to be. That person who can be really cruel, who wants to "control" the future and make it theirs.
But that outcome you saw, that's not the only one that exists.
[What Mettaton must be talking about is LOVE. And surely the both of them have gained some LOVE while aboard this ship.]
... I know that doesn't exactly make that one outcome any less scary, huh? But I think you do care, a lot more than you think you do. That's why you didn't want to tell me, right?
It's not going to feel okay, everything that's already happened to you. Seeing all those timelines and outcomes... it's enough to drive any human or monster insane. And with everything we've already suffered, and the fact that you can bring yourself to care...
Mettaton, despite everything, it's still you.