The Show Must Go On (actually please dont)

Mettaton's not been doing too hot lately. Not that the public knows that of course. Just a week and some change ago, he was on stage, and halfway through the song he was singing- something a little more emotionally dramatic than he usually performs- in a climactic moment, he'd thrown back his hair, reached up to his face, and tore half of it off, the functional outside of his eye and all, exposing the vulnerable wiring and cords beneath. The crowd went wild, of course, thinking it was all a stunt. Maybe even his boyfriend, in the front row VIP section as always, may have been fooled... After all, he changes his face plates out all the time! Until he came back stage after the show and found Mettaton on speakerphone with Alphys, who was flipping the fuck out about what he did. That he may have caused some serious damage. That was a pretty big clue that he shouldn't have done that. It's still not even fixed- it's not something they can just slap his backup faceplates on, he caused a little more damage than that, and Alphys has to actually fix it.

He even admitted that it was a spur of the moment fit, that he was still a little distraught about discovering not so long ago that his favorite cousin had died not long after he had and, like him, has since been living as a spirit. It was an emotional time then, but he seemed to take comfort in the company of his cousin's spirit, who seemed content enough to occasionally hang around... But maybe he hadn't been as recovered from that as they thought. And, in fact, it may have only scraped the surface of deeper issues the ghost-robot star was facing.

In fact... just a week or so prior to the face-ripping event, Mettaton had done another show (as he does). He was scheduled to do a particular song, but dumped it at the last second to instead perform a cover of A-Ha's 'The Sun Always Shines On T.V.', something outside the usual flamboyant and cheerier if usually self-absorbed things he does. Which, in hindsight, may have been a cry for help... But he seems have to been doing better since the face episode. He was a little emotionally fraught afterwards, but has returned to his cheery, sassy, narcissistic self, even taking Rouxls and Lancer both out for a real nice dinner.


They probably should have seen that things were not as okay as he said they were. They probably should have seen tonight coming, But they didn't. There was some concern from Alphys that maybe he shouldn't perform until his face is fixed- the public wasn't aware it still wasn't, thanks to how he usually wears his hair. He'd just laughed and said it was nostalgic, and the show must go on ([kill bill sirens]). And so the show went. A concert, mostly of his own music with at least one cover, but nothing too special- Mettaton killing it on stage of course, but with no special get-up, save for a light, sheer mantle draped from his shoulders, fluttering about as he moves. And then comes the finale. Another cover, this time of a song with a famously fraught background... Queen's 'The Show Must Go On'.

And like that A-Ha cover, it was not what was on the schedule, plans changing literally at the last minute, technicians scrambling for the beta setup of a performance he'd only put together recently without much stage testing. Luckily, it went off without a hitch... But unluckily, everything else... Happens.

Aside from the dramatic, emotionally fraught song whose original context was meant to be about the end of the beloved singer's life being far from Mettaton's usual fare, all seems normal at first. He belts out his cover, his voice gorgeous as always- he's not Freddie Mercury, no one can really take that beautiful soul's place, but he's his own beauty, his own take equally stunning in its own way. Everything's normal... until the chorus.

A sexual being, Mettaton is always fond of running his hands over his body as he poses and dances during his performances, and tonight is no exception, his hands dragging up his torso, up to his mechanical chestplate as he approaches the chorus, his gloved metal hands hooking over the edges... And yanking- both sides in different directions, causing it to crack and splinter down the middle, sparks flying almost in time to his cries that the show must go on, splitting apart just as he sings his 'heart may be breaking'. Half of the chestplate comes tearing off in sparks, being tossed aside, while the other hangs loosely, damaged, from his chest (which doesn't look happy about having that piece unceremoniously yanked off improperly). But just like the lyrics, his smile still stays on, and he doesn't even flinch as he takes his hands from his chest and poses again.

The crowd is loving it all, of course, just like the face incident. They don't realize anything is wrong. Those who know him, those special and very few, are probably realizing immediately, though, that this is seriously going wrong. His hand creeps sensually back to the remains of his chestpiece though as the lyrics talk of 'another heartache, another failed romance'- is this supposed to mean something, Mettaton? Didn't you and Rouxls not long ago share your first I Love Yous? What are you trying to say?- and then off that half comes too, leaving his damaged chest 'bare', tossed in the other direction.

If the A-Ha performance was a cry for help in hindsight, this is much clearer with that in mind. Mettaton literally just ripped pieces of him off himself, and now he's singing a song originally about a dying star facing 'whatever happens', 'does anybody know what we're living for?', he'll 'soon be turning around the corner now'. This is concerning?!?!? Mettaton is no stranger to letting his heart-shaped soul leave his body during performances, always connected by little threads of light to the inside of his core. But it's only another sign now as he takes it out saying he's 'aching to be free', when he had done the same during his last cry for help...

The Show Must Go On, he keeps on singing, crying out a 'yeah~!' as he grips his left arm with his right hand and pulls- pulls- more sparks are flying as he pulls, from where it connects to his shoulder, from the sections coming apart along the length of the arm itself, his dark internal fluids starting to spurt, until all at once it comes flying off, pieces of metal and mechanisms scattering as the end of his arm falls apart slightly, his robotic 'blood' gushing from both ends, but mostly from the now empty, damaged place on his shoulder. And he just keeps singing, keeps dancing, keeps posing, holding his arm like it's a fucking puppet, pressing the limp hand to his face to cup his own cheek as he smiles- as 'his smile still stays on'.

THIS IS!!! DISTRESSING!!!!

And it only gets worse! He doesn't stop tearing at himself now during the guitar solo after tossing aside his arm and his remaining glove, ripping at the black latex covering he usually wears to cover the bare metal of his body, his metal fingers digging in and taking chunks of metal with it, especially at his thighs and hips and sides around his core chamber, his heart floating outside his body, throbbing visibly. And then, bending slightly, his beautiful back arching sensually, sheer mantle draping along his gorgeous and damaged body, he digs his hand deep into his right thigh, gripping tight, and as he cries that he can fly, he yanks harshly- and the entire leg rips from his body, hip and all, leaving behind ragged latex and the damaged, empty socket full of wires and gushing with his false blood, dark and reddish even under the colorful stagelights.

He remains balanced on his remaining leg at first as he returns to the chorus, the crowd absolutely losing their minds at the insane performance. But then he drops unevenly to his remaining knee after tossing his leg aside like his arm and chestpiece(s), like he had meant to fall a little more elegantly but couldn't quite manage it (only half true). "I'll face it with a grin!" He cries, throwing back his head, "I'm never giving in!" He's bleeding all over the stage now, his back arching further, thrusting his chest and core forward as he wails beautifully, painfully, to the unseen sky, "OOON WITH THE SHOOOW!"

The momentary guitar interlude gives him the opportunity to bend back forward, tossing his hair as he juts his remaining leg out, and then grasping at it. "I'll top the bill! I'll overkill!" He punctuates lyrics his friends are probably really wishing weren't fucking there with yanking yet again, the crunches of metal and machinery playing under the instruments and accentuating the 'performance', as he rips off his leg below the knee after bending it hideously backwards, making the crowd shriek. "I have to find to find the will to carry on!"

Mettaton throws his head back once more with his final cry for the Show, smiling somehow serenely as his final line echoes over the crowd, his multiple 'wounds' gushing their false blood in a growing puddle around him, the empty arm socket in particular oozing it down his torso almost erotically. The finale starts to conclude, and the one member of the audience (has the poor thing been struck frozen with horror?) who knows exactly what is wrong is free to wait until the lights fall to rush to Mettaton's side with the rest of his panicked assistants and technicians... Or he's free to say to hell with what the crowd thinks, to hell with public image and PR, and climb up on the stage while Mettaton is releasing his final cry, as the final notes are still ringing on the speakers, as the lights and pyrotechnics are still dancing around the damaged star, falling apart literally and figuratively.