Re:life with Karmic Gacha (Modern Family)

Chapter 445: Concert Ends.

[Edward POV]

"It’s time. Billie, are you ready?" I asked the nervous girl.

"My hands are sweaty–"

Finneas interrupted her, "Knees weaks, arms are heavy."

Alex added, "There’s vomit on her sweater already."

"Mom’s spaghetti." I joined in. Billie sighed, a little dumfounded, but the joke took off a lot of her pressure.

"She’s nervous, but on the surface she looks calm and ready–" Alex rapped, getting close to Billie’s face.

Billie was taken aback at first, then she joined in after Alex gave the imaginary microphone to her.

"To drop bombs! But she kept forgetting what she wrote down."

"The whole crowd goes so loud–" Finneas continued, but I held his shoulder and stopped him.

"Do it later. We need to get on stage now."

"Alright." Finneas said with embarrassment, rubbing his sore cheek after getting punched by Alex before.

Finneas went crazy with the promise ring after he found Alex wanted to do it with him on the first day of the concert.

On the second day, he thought she would react the same way, so he waited patiently and never took his eyes off her in case he missed the hint.

But he had a headache from keeping intense focus for too long and had to go to sleep early.

It was pretty embarrassing since Alex wanted to do it after the second day’s performance too. That’s two for two. That’s why he’s so desperate.

"We never really decided on a band name, right?" Alex asked.

"What do you think we should name it?" I asked everyone.

"I thought we were the ’Cool Kids’?" Billie was confused.

"No, we wish we are the ’Cool Kids’. We’re not the ’Cool Kids’." Alex explained since she was the one who sang that song before.

"How about we decide after the performace?" I grinned. "We have 10 seconds."

"Finneas and Alex." Finneas suggested.

"Nine." I counted.

"Teen Scientist." Alex said.

"Six."

"Afro Monster."

"Two... Wait, what is that?" I asked, turning to Billie in confusion.

The countdown was over, and we entered the circular stage. People screamed excitedly as they saw us.

As we prepared, the crowd went quiet in anticipation. This time, I held a guitar. Finneas was on the synthesizer. Alex was on the bass guitar.

A random drummer would help us – which was actually one of my duplicates in disguise. Billie would be singing today.

Alex, Billie and Finneas had thick eyeliner, and wore black clothes with spikes.

I wore a black clothes, but without anything extra since I would be using it even after this performance.

"I figured we’ll try something different today." I said to the audience. They cheered instantly. "I won’t spoil anything for you all."

Part of the audience laughed as I made a joke.

"But I released it this morning. Did you have time to practice?"

"YEAH!" A lot of the answered

"Alright then. The song is called, Heavy Is The Crown. Enjoy."

[Linkin Park– Heavy Is The Crown]

Finneas started with the synthesizer. Alex and I joined in with the guitars. The drums followed us, creating a really upbeat melody.

I leaned on the microphone and rapped, " ♫♪ It’s pourin’ in, you’re laid on the floor again. One knock at the door and then. We both know how the story ends ♫♪"

"♫♪ You can’t win if your white flag’s out when the war begins ♫♪"

"♫♪ Aimin’ so high, but swingin’ so low. Tryna catch fire but feelin’ so cold ♫♪"

"♫♪ Hold it inside and hope it won’t show. I’m sayin’ it’s not but inside I know ♫♪"

Alex and Finneas harmonized at the pre-chorus.

" ♫♪ Today’s gonna be the day you notice."

"’Cause I’m tired of explainin’ what the joke is ♫♪

Billie held the microphone with both hands and screamed with powerful, gritty, and intense vocals.

"♫♪ This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown!! Fire in the sunrise, ashes rainin’ down ♫♪"

The audience gasped in shock and awe. The alt metal, punk rock type music seeped through the crowd, and it raised people’s heartbeat.

Some of the girls in the crowd took off their clothes, and began dancing topless.

"♫♪Try to hold it in, but it keeps bleeding out~ This is what you asked for, heavy is the—," She took a short breath, "Heavy is the crown!!!♫♪"

I smiled in satisfaction, almost laughing but keeping it in. Her way of singing was a stark contrast from the Billie I knew in the future.

She could do this, screamed with metal singing techniques, because her voice was undergoing some changes as she went through puberty. Her voice was quite raspy nowadays, that’s why I asked if she wanted to sing the scream part.

I let go of my guitar and held a microphone.

"♫♪Turn to run, now look what it’s become! Outnumbered, ten to one! Back then should’ve bit your tongue ♫♪"

I looked straight into the camera which was broadcasting the performance to every screen in the concert hall.

"♫♪’Cause there’s no turnin’ back this path once it’s begun♫♪"

"♫♪You’re already on that list. Say you don’t want what you can’t resist♫♪"

"♫♪Waving that sword when the pen won’t miss. Watch it all fallin’ apart like this♫♪"

Sage snorted slightly. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

Billie sang again. I looked straight at her as I picked up the guitar back and smiled widely.

"♫♪This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown♫♪"

"♫♪Fire in the sunrise, ashes rainin’ down♫♪"

"♫♪Try to hold it in, but it keeps bleeding out♫♪"

"♫♪This is what you asked for, heavy is the—, heavy is the crown♫♪"

The idiot couple harmonized again, "♫♪Today’s gonna be the day you notice. ’Cause I’m tired of explainin’ what the joke is♫♪"

Billie screamed in a guttaral voice, dragging her vocals, "♫♪This is what you asked fooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr♫♪"

I shredded the guitar, and the entire crowd went wild.

She didn’t make it to the next verse as she had strained her voice. I continued for her without hesitation since we had talked about it before.

My screaming voice was more of a NU metal sounding rather than intense, guttural like Billie.

"♫♪This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown♫♪"

"♫♪Fire in the sunrise, ashes rainin’ down♫♪"

"♫♪Try to hold it in but it keeps bleeding out♫♪"

"♫♪This is what you asked for, heavy is the—, heavy is the crown♫♪"

"KYAAHHH!" The girls in the crowd squealed.

Backstage, Frankie rubbed her forehead and said, "They must experiment with a new type of genre do they?"

Billie and I ended the song together. "♫♪Heavy is the crown! Heavy is the—, heavy is the crown♫♪"

The crowd cheered thunderously as I finished strumming the guitar.

I looked at the crowd with satisfaction. Billie had to sit on the stage floor as she was incredibly stressed out before, and the relief made her knees weak.

I helped her get up with a laugh and asked, "Are you okay? Do you want to go back?"

"Nah. I’ll just go sit at the drum." She said cheekily.

"What’s the band’s name?!" People were shouting urgently. "What is your name?!"

"TELL US YOUR BAND NAME!"

I thought of something and said, "We are, The Experimenter."

Alex and Finneas laughed. Billie smirked and said, "I’m fine with that name."

"Me too."

"So do I."

Everyone agreed with Edward’s suggestion at the peak of the excitement.

"Next up, is Believer."

...

[General POV]

"Heavy is the crown huh?" Jacob said as if he was struck with a realization. "He must’ve written that one about me."

"What!?" Elsa grimaced, looking at her boyfriend with disbelief. "Enid! Put that taser down!" Elsa stopped Enid before she could assault her boyfriend for disrespecting Edward.

Jacob saw the taser and hid behind Elsa. "I mean, our Bloody Bat football team has gotten to the state championship. We haven’t lost a single game in our last 50 matches. You’d have no idea what the pressure was like."

"You can resonate with that. But it’s not written about you. You think you feel pressure? Try Edward. He has the entire world looking closely at his direction, evil people who’re just waiting for his downfall." Enid scolded.

The other fans around them heard it and agreed with Enid.

Enid added, "The crown is him. No one else. He’s the King. Our leader. Our Messiah."

"Yeah, the Messiah." Some of the fans around said with a fanatical look. Some laughed, some took it way too seriously.

"He’s not Paul Atreides." Jacob snorted.

The concert went on for a while. People cried at the finale since it meant they weren’t going to see Edward again for a while.

Phil, Claire and Luke went to the RV after the concert ended. "Should we go back home now, or tomorrow morning?" Phil asked.

"Let’s go right now." Claire said. Luke asked, "What about Haley?"

"She’s going back with her friends from college." Claire replied.

Haley seemed quite depressed, therefore Claire let her go since her friends seemed quite trustworthy.

"Hey, let’s go to my apartment." The girl who only wore a bikini top said as the four of them entered the pink Mini Cooper. She has blonde curly hair and freckles.

"We can call some guys, and have a party." The other girl said. The African American girl had braids and wore a tank top and booty jeans.

Haley agreed after thinking for a while, "Yeah. Let’s do it."

...

[Edward POV]

After the concert ended. I was laying down on Barbara’s lap as she put a cold towel over my forehead.

Finneas and Alex were gone. Billie hangs out with Enid’s group for a bit. A minute later, Finneas and Alex returned to hang out with them.

"We should go back to the mansion and sleep there." Barbara said hintingly.

"Right now? It will take quite a long drive." I said with a tired voice.

"No silly. Just use the portal to get there." She said as a matter of factly, looking at me like I was stupid.

I was flabbergasted for a bit.

"Aren’t you completely taking advantage of that power?" I asked teasingly.

Barbara stammered. "What–What’s good is the power if you aren’t going to completely misuse– I mean, take advantage of it!"

I laughed out loud and said, "We can do that once I wrap up things here."

"Alright. I will wait, but not very patiently." She teased.

"How does that work?" I asked, playing along with her.

"I will ask you about it every five minutes. Until you get annoyed and give me what I want." She replied.

"Oh, so like when we have sex."

"Hey!" She gasped, smirking slightly. "You wanted that too."

I kissed her and said, "Yeah. I do."

I went outside the concert venue, and there were still a lot of people in the medical ward and lounging around the area.

"It’s a city after all. You can’t expect people to completely empty out the city in just half an hour." Frankie told me.

"I don’t mind. They can also stay if they want." I replied.

"There were thousands of people who applied for citizenship in this city." Frankie replied. "What should we do about that?"

"We’re going to need a proper community here if the city wants to thrive. So let’s screen them out. We need business owners and workers. We need restaurants and stores."

While I was talking with Frankie, Oracle interrupted the conversation urgently.

"Sir, there’s something you should know."

...

Out in the desert. In a pitch black, deserted road.

Haley and the girls stood beside the Mini Cooper, smoke billowing from the car’s engine. The front of the car was wrecked, as they swerved off road and hit a tree.

"What should we do?" Lisa, the blonde with curly hair asked nervously, blood flowing from her forehead. "My dad’s going to kill me."

"I think I broke my arm." Jamila, the other girl clutched her left arm and winched in pain. "I need an ambulance." She said.

Haley however, was completely fine. Even though she wasn’t supposed to be fine.

Since she was on the back and didn’t wear a seatbelt, the backlash almost broke her neck. She wasn’t even sure how she survived since she flew past the broken window and was flung outside the car.

"Um, I’m going to call an ambulance." Haley said urgently.

"That won’t be necessary."

The girls turned to the sound of the voice coming from behind them. Lisa took out a taser to protect herself and stood in front of her friends.

"Who are you!? Show yourself!" Lisa shouted confidently.

My drones provided some lights around the area, so the girls could see me.

"Newgate?" Lisa widened her eyes in shock.

"Did we die?" Jamila asked. "That will explain why Haley wasn’t injured." She said casually.

"We died, why am I still in pain?" Lisa rebuked her.

"Cause we have some sins. So we’re being punished." Jamila replied.

"What-!?" Lisa argued with her friend.

I walked toward Haley and checked up on her. Her eyes were glued on me, shaking with a slight disbelief.

"How– Why–"

"My drones were patrolling the area to make sure there’s no accidents. I think you’d be glad to know, you’re the only people who had an accident tonight." I patted her body slightly.

I had put a protection rune on her, that’s how she had survived the crash. Otherwise, she would have a broken neck, and may have died instantly.

I grabbed her hand to comfort her while my medical robots checked on the girls. I didn’t come alone through the portal and brought some robots and an ambulance with me.

"We should go back to the city. I’ll send you home after fixing up your friends." I told her casually.

I grabbed her hand and wanted to lead her away, but Haley’s feet stayed planted on the ground.

"What’s wrong?" I asked with concern.

"I..." Tears pooled in her eyes. "I was so scared!" She squatted on the ground and began crying. I went down and hugged her, saying, "It’s fine. It’s alright now."

...

"You were in an accident?" Barbara was shocked when she saw Haley coming back to the venue with me.

"Are you hurt?" She checked her the same way I did before.

"I’m– I’m fine." Haley said with a slight uncomfortableness.

"She’s traumatized. She got flung out of the car window." I said casually.

Alex rushed into the waiting room as she heard Haley was in an accident.

"Haley!"

"Alex–"

Alex hugged her hurriedly and cried a bit. "I was so worried."

Haley’s chin quivered, and she hugged Alex intensely. She wanted to separate, but Alex held on to her for quite a while.

Barbara approached me and whispered, "Edward. I feel like, she should stay with us tonight."

"Hmm?" I turned to her with confusion.

Barbara explained, "You always have that soothing effect on you. I think it will help her a lot."

I thought about it and shook my head. "No. Not this time."

Haley suddenly realized something and gasped. "You... Alex... You did it."

"What–" Alex was taken aback, her mind turned blank. "How– What– How did you know?"

"We women just knew." Haley replied. "You really did it didn’t you?" She smirked, the thought of her having a near death experience was thrown to the back of her mind.

"So, how is it?" Haley asked.

"What– I’m not telling you anything–" She whispered slightly, "It’s not what I expected."

"So, he’s bad in bed huh?" Haley teased.

"Shut up." Alex grimaced.

The door to the waiting room burst open. Claire, Phil and Luke rushed into the room with Phil leading the way.

"Where is she?" He asked frantically as he saw me first. I pointed to Haley.

Phil rushed towards her and hugged her tightly. "Honey, I was so worried!" He said with a warm tone.

Claire joined in on the hug and said, "We’re never ever, going to let you drive with your friend, ever."

"Mom!" Haley whined, slightly taken aback. Then, she burst into laughter slightly.

Luke asked, "Did you do a Superman pose as you flew out the window, or did you have a lame pose?"

He was also worried, but he felt like there was no room to squeeze in in the group hug.

"Come here you." Haley chuckled and pulled him toward them. Phil and Claire hugged him too as he hugged Haley.

I smiled and said, "This is what I’ve been missing out on."

"A group hug?" Barbara asked with confusion.

I just shook my hand slightly at her, not really explaining it.

All of them stayed in my house in Concert City that night. I left them alone to deal with the situation and make sure that nothing else like this happened tonight.

For Haley’s friend, their injuries were treated, and they were sent back to their apartment.

...

[Haley POV]

"So like, he suddenly appeared?" Barbara gasped, joining in to gossip with Alex and Haley. The three of them wore pajamas and were sitting on the same bed together.

"Like a god." Haley squirmed. "I thought I was dead for a few seconds. Cause he appeared out of nowhere."

Alex nodded and said, "That’s reasonable. If you’re really dying, maybe your brain was showing you a montage of your life."

Haley gasped and said, "I actually did have that for a bit while I was flying out of the window."

Barbara got excited and asked, "What did you see?"

"I don’t remember much now." Haley said shyly. She covered her face, which made the two girls even more excited.

"I can’t believe we’re talking about this in such a nonchalant way. Mom needs to get sedated to go to sleep." Alex said, throwing her hands wide in disbelief.