Undertale: Reason to Live

Chapter 102

The curtains opened to reveal a packed room surrounding the stage. It looked exactly the same as it did every other time that Frisk had to fight Mettaton EX. It was always a sight that wearied him before but not this time…

As the stage lights shined on the band, the audience gasped in horror at Frisk's appearance, mostly at his scars.

From far away, Mettaton was watching his phone and doing the same. Toriel's mouth dropped open in shock while Sans just kept watching with a proud fatherly smirk.

The Voice in Frisk's head and Napstablook simultaneously said, "Do it."

That voice, Napstablook's encouragement, and the audience's shocked expressions empowered Frisk as he picked up the microphone, flashed a devilish smile, and said, "We're going to perform Aenema by Tool, and in case you're curious, the answer is yes. I carved every single one of these scars myself."

Toriel practically fainted where she sat while Sans chuckled to himself. Meanwhile, Mettaton created a portal heading backstage.

Frisk smiled at the rest of his band and nodded as he began chanting the disturbing whisper that began the song, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!"

The stage erupted in song as Calibri played the opening electric guitar riff.

Burgerpants then joined him behind him on the drums.

Right after him, River joined on his electric guitar to perform the second melody.

Then finally, Frisk came in with his vocals singing the opening lyrics, "Some say the end is near…Some say we'll see Armageddon soon…I certainly hope we will…I sure could use a vacation from this bull…shit…three…ring…ciiiiircuuus…sideshow of…"

The spotlights started flashing along with the drum's beat.

Calibri's intense and intimidating electric guitar melody then gave his guidance as Frisk practically screamed, "FREAKS here in this…hopeless fucking…hole we call…the Underground…the only way to…fix it is to flush it all away…any fucking time…any fucking day…learn to swim…see you down in…Ebbot City Bay!"

Calibri played a quieter riff that built up to the louder accompanying melody that built up to the next verse alongside his father playing his quieter complex harmony while Napstablook did his sound work at the booth.

Mettaton heard it all from backstage, but before he could intervene, Papyrus and Undyne jumped him and started fighting him backstage.

After about four seconds of this interlude, Frisk took a deep breath and sang removing his microphone from the stand and gesturing to the random people in the audience, "Fret for your figure and fret for your latte and fret for your lawsuit and fret for your hairpiece and fret for your Prozac and fret for your pilot and fret for your car. It's a bull…shit…three…ring…ciiiircuuuus…sideshow of…FREAKS here in this…hopeless fucking…hole we call…the Underground…the only way to..fix it is to flush it all away…any fucking time…any fucking day…learn to swim…see you down in…Ebbot City Bay!"

During the instrumental interlude of Calibri and River's guitars and Burgerpants's drums, Mettaton was still fighting Undyne and Papyrus backstage unbeknownst to anyone on stage or in the audience.

"What are you doing?!" Mettaton pleaded desperately while dodging Undyne's spears and Papyrus's bones. "He's going to ruin everything!"

"Exactly!" Undyne yelled firing a spear directly a Mettaton's head that he just managed to dodge.

"Frisk will be hurt by this, too!" Mettaton protested as he used his superpowered legs to jump over his adversaries and do a full split in the air. "They'll all think he's a freak with all those scars! He'll be under the spotlight forever!"

"That's your fault," Papyrus retorted as he jumped into the air, grabbed Mettaton's leg, and pulled him down to the ground. "Frisk never wanted to be on TV or anything like that. You tricked him, and now, he has to do this to get away! This only happened because you wouldn't let Frisk go and leave us alone!"

Just then Frisk continued singing while Burgerpants rested his drums and the skeletons played their quieter chords in the background.

"Some say a comet will come from the sky," Frisk sang. "Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves…followed by fault lines that cannot sit still…"

Then with a gesture towards the audience, "Followed by millions of dumbfounded dipshits…" Frisk sang before continuing with Burgerpants's loud drum solo to back him up. "And some say the end is near…Some say we'll see Armageddon soon…I certainly hope we will…I sure could use a vacation from this…stupid shit…silly shit…stupid shit…"

In the few beats of vocal rest while the instruments played, Mettaton managed to dash on the stage. From stage left, Inferno played the previously agreed upon signal on the light board so that the performers on stage could know what was going on.

They all looked behind them to see Mettaton but kept the show going without missing a beat.

When Frisk noticed him, he simply smirked, gestured towards Mettaton with the spotlight on him, and sang, "One great big festering neon distraction, I've a suggestion to keep you all occupied…Learn to swim…Learn to swim…Learn to swim…"

Frisk then looked back at the audience like nothing had happened, took a large gulp of air, and sang, "Mom's gonna fix it all soon…Mom's comin' round to put it back the way it oughtta beeeeeeeeee…"

Frisk held the note for a little longer while Calibri shredded through his intense guitar solo with the help of his dad and Burgerpants playing in the background.

That solo died down only to rise up again together as two monsters sang in unison, "Learn to swim! Learn to swim! Learn to swim! Learn to swim! Learn to swim! Learn to swim!" and Calibri did some unscripted metal growls in the background with the help of his modified voice device.

The trio quieted down to chanting in the background while Frisk sang, "Fuck EX Mettaton. And fuck all his clones. Fuck all these gun-toting, hip gangster wannabes."

Calibri played another solo that kept building in intensity until the next lines and while River and Burgerpants continued chanting, "Learn to swim! Learn to swim! Learn to swim! Learn to swim! Learn to swim!"

"Fuck retro anything," Frisk sang. "Fuck your tattoos. Fuck all you junkies. And fuck your short memories!"

"Learn to swim! Learn to swim! Learn to swim! Learn to swim! Learn to swim!"

Calibri played his prominent guitar solo and then Frisk sang again.

"Fuck smiley gladhands with hidden agendas. Fuck these dysfunctional, insecure actresses."

"Learn to swim! Learn to swim! Learn to swim!"

The guitars and the drums built up in intensity threatening to bust out of control but quieted down to almost a whisper and built up again when Frisk sang, "'Cause I'm praying for raaaain, I'm prayin' for tidal waves. I wanna see the ground give way. I wanna watch it all go down. Mom, please flush it all away. I wanna see it go right in and down. I wanna watch it go right in. Watch you flush it all awaaaaaaaaay!"

Frisk stopped holding his note as the guitars and drums grew louder and louder.

"Time to bring it down again!" Frisk sang as the instrumentals grew more intense.

After letting the instrumentals go on for a few measures, Frisk continued, "Don't just call me pessimist! Try and read between the lines!"

Another measure of no vocals went by while the guitars and drums grew loud and fast enough to match the speed of Frisk's heartbeat.

At that moment, Frisk smiled as he felt his determination fill another step to 19 HP.

"I can't imagine why you wouldn't welcome any change, my friend!" Frisk sang. "I wanna see it all come down! BRING IT DOWN! SUCK IT DOWN! FLUSH IT DOWN!"

Calibri, River, and Burgerpants started playing the intense melodic outro while Frisk whispered, "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Heeeey! Hey! Heeeey! Hey! Heeeey! Heeeeeeeeeeeeey!"

The music ended. The lights went out. The audience stood there in abject silence.

Frisk and his friends all smiled.