Chapter 286

(The Loud House.)

The Luna-Tics Tour bus is parked in front of the Loud House and Jordan wheels Lincoln to the garage and they both see Luna, Sam, Sully, Mazzy and Chunk going through what they have and with them is Michelle Lewis and she has a clipboard.

"Looks like we have all the gear ready for action for tonight's gig" said Michelle. "Now all we need to do is get this into the bus and head off to Bangers n' Mosh, you guys really get the most gig there."

"We're all good and loyal customers to the joint and at times they know what we wanna order" said Chunk as he carries the guitars into the bus.

Michelle then sees Lincoln and Jordan. "Oh hey kids, did you two need something?" Luna and the others also see this, and yes Luna's arm is fixed up. They went to the hospital earlier to have the cast removed, though Lincoln is still on a wheel chair and he might recover on the following day.

"No, we just came here to see how you guys are doing" said Jordan. "You all see ready and stoked for the gig tonight."

"Heck yeah we are, Luna has this new song and we are going to show them what the song is truly made of!" said Mazzy as she carries her drums and hands them to Chunk.

Sam chuckles. "You sure you wanna come to the gig Linc? You're still down and not making strides."

"Guys, I wanna come. This is Luna's gig without he cast and I wanna be there, with or without this dang wheel chair I am going and I am going to support my big sis!" said Lincoln with determination in his eyes.

Luna sheds a tear and she goes over and hugs him. "You're way too kind little brother, way, way too kind." They then break from the hug. "We'll try and keep an eye on ya, we don't want you to get hurt or anything."

Lincoln smiles. "I'm not gonna get hurt sis, honest. I can handle things, even without the eagles since the chicks are getting kinda jumpy."

"Oh yeah, that one" said Luna. They all see the Tree House Watch tower. "Have they been making any jumps recently?"

"I did see them try to jump and your eagles did grab them before they even made the attempt" replied Michelle. She then helps carry the last amp into the bus. "Kinda scary to see the eagle chicks try this."

"They only want to take flight for the first time, or they wanna see what everyone else is up to" said Sully as he grabs his keyboard and loads it into the bus. "Kinda like a curious toddler."

"We just gotta make sure they don't try to hurt themselves" said Sam. "Still kinda dangerous for the little dudes who don't have flight capabilities yet."

"She's not wrong" said Jordan. "It is August and somewhere in the late time of the month they will have their flight capable feathers ready, but not yet. They are way too early to wanna fly."

Lincoln chuckles. "Eager little ….." The then see Patriot grab Artemis and bring her back into the nest.

They all sigh in relief. "Way too close!" said Sam, she then gets up and grabs her bass and brings it over to the bus.

Luna then helps with the last gear they have. "So, Lisa coming along as well little brother?"

"She is, but she's going to be watched over by dad. He told me before we came out here" said Lincoln.

"Lisa is still bummed out about the whole incident from last month" said Jordan. "On the plus side, she is spending some quality time with Lily and has some visits from her bestie Darcy."

Luna sighs. "Lisa has a whole month of summer gone and all she did was mess around with some tech she wasn't supposed to meddle with. She really has to get the whole curious little genius phase out of her, otherwise she could get herself and everyone around her into some deep, deep trouble."

They all can agree on that one, but they had no clue that Lisa was hearing them and she sighs. "This is a phase I cannot be able to escape from. Science has its ways of getting into a place of pure curiosity and I am a victim of its treacherous power." She sits in the corner and looks down in sadness.

Lily is playing with her blocks and sees this, she goes over and hugs Lisa. "Dowt cwy Wisa."

Lisa smiles and hugs her baby sister. "Thank you Lily, perhaps I can have some fun being in here with you. Now come on, we shall make a block castle and have some fun."

Lily giggles and she and Lisa go over and play.

Outside Lori and Leni come back from the mall, and with them of course is their good friend Jessica Carson. "Hey guys, you all look ready for tonight."

"We sure are dude" replied Sam. "And we're glad you got the time to come and see us perform too."

Jessica along with Leni and Lori get out of Lori's car. "I said I wanted to come and see the sights around the town, and the gig of the Luna-Tics is one of them. I did saw the videos of you guys on tour with Mick Swagger and they were kinda awesome. Except for that part where Lincoln got shot."

That one was a memory Luna has trouble with, and same with Sam and Jordan. Lincoln sighs. "Yeah, that memory is one to have a hard imprint on us. But we gotta pull through and make the rest of our lives matter."

Jessica was impressed by Lincoln and the people around him. No matter what they face or how traumatic the scars can be, they seem to be handling it all with such great ease and that's what she admires about him and this group of people they call friends and family.

"So, what the heck did you guys do at the mall?" asked Jordan. Lori, Leni and Jessica tell them what they did.

Luna then recalls something. 'Lake Eddy.' She recalls the big one week stay at the lake, just for her, Sam, Lincoln and Jordan. But she has no idea how to lay it down to them slowly and steadily. She recalls Lincoln and his nightmare and that he decided to make Lake Eddy into something they can learn to embrace and have some fun.

Luna sighs. 'Tonight, I'll tell him tonight and then I'll tell Sam and Jordan tomorrow.' She then continues to help the band with the gear.

But she has no clue that Sam is looking to her with worry. Sam can tell something is wrong, but she's not going to push Luna into telling her. She'll tell her when the time is right. Just not now.

(Skip, Bangers n' Mosh night time.)

The whole place is packed and amongst the crowd are they're friends and family, Lincoln is wheeled in by Jordan and they get front row tables to see them perform. Lincoln was excited as everyone else.

At the backstage, Luna and the band are doing some last minute checks on their gear and the lyrics and so does Michelle. Luna goes over to her. "You okay dude?"

Michelle sighs. "Sorry, just a bit nervous being the manager of your band for this small gig. Been some time since I've done this and really brings back some itchy memories of when I was teamed up with Doug."

Luna smiles. "Well, there's no shame in bailing. We understand if it's kinda stressful."

Michelle also smiles. "Thanks for those words, but I wanted to show that I am not the same kind of Michelle I was before, I wanna show them that this gal is not a bad person and that I am ready to show everyone that I am truly worthy to be called a friend and a member of society."

They all chuckled at this. "Good to see some confidence from ya dude" said Mazzy.

Then Michelle checks her watch. "Okay, five minutes then you guys are up!" Michelle then goes over to check on the stage lights and all the stage props to make sure they don't fall and ruin this.

Sam goes to Luna who is checking on her axe. "You feeling okay Luna?"

Luna looks to Sam and she kisses her cheek. "Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

Sam sighs, Sam told herself she wouldn't push it but she wanted to help her girlfriend. "Because I know you're not feeling like yourself. What is it?"

Luna knows she can't be able to deny her girlfriend trying to help out and luckily Sully and Mazzy are too busy talking to even hear them. "Okay, so I made this big promise to Lincoln for something pretty rad for next week. I wanted to surprise him with it, but I decided not to and to tell him tonight before we all hit the hay."

Sam smiles. "That's it? Huh, for a minute there I thought it would be something way worse. Lunes, I understand and I know you won't tell me or Jordan about it until Lincoln would be okay with it and whatever it is, then I'm cool with it too."

Luna kisses Sam. "Thanks babe, I knew you'd understand and thanks for letting me tell you some of this and I promise I will tell you about what I had planned for next week tomorrow, just come by the house around after breakfast then we'll talk."

Sam smiles. "Okay then." They both head on to check on the rest of their things and also peek through the red curtains and see the large crowd all there for them along with their friends and families.

(Five minutes later.)

Everyone sees the light turn off and then the voice of Michelle makes the intro. "Ladies and gentleman of Bangers n' Mosh, please put a round of applause for Royal Woods finest band, the Luna-Tics!"

They all cheer and the band reveals themselves on stage.

The band starts with some light foot tapping and whistling.

Luna: If you love somebody.
Better tell them while they're here.
'Cause they just may run away from you.

You'll never know quite when, well.
Then again it just depends on.
How long of time is left for you.

I've had the highest mountains.
I've had the deepest rivers.
You can have it all but life keeps moving.

I take it in, but don't look down.

The band: 'Cause I'm on top of the world.
I'm on top of the world.
Waiting on this for a while now.
Paying my dues to the dirt.
I've been waiting to smile.
Been holdin it in for a while.
Take you with me if I can.
Been dreaming of this since a child.

I'm on top of the world.

Luna: I've tried to cut these corners.
Tried to take the easy way out.
'Cause I've travelled all this way for something.

I could've gave up then.
But then again I couldn't have.
'Cause I've travelled all this way for something.

I take it in but don't look down.

The band: 'Cause I'm on top of the world.
I'm on top of the world.
Waiting on this for a while now.
Paying my dues to the dirt.
I've been waiting to smile.
Been holdin it in for a while.
Take you with me if I can.
Been dreaming of this since a child.

I'm on top of the world.
Oh, oh, oh. Oh. Oh. Oh, oh, oh, Oh, oh.

'Cause I'm on top of the world.
I'm on top of the world.
Waiting on this for a while now.
Paying my dues to the dirt.
I've been waiting to smile.
Been holdin it in for a while.
Take you with me if I can.
Been dreaming of this since a child.

Luna and the band: And I know it's hard when you're feeling down.
And it's a long way up when hit the ground.

Get up now, get up now, get up now.

And I know it's hard when you're feeling down.
And it's a long way up when hit the ground.

Get up now, get up now, get up now.

'Cause I'm on top of the world.
I'm on top of the world.
Waiting on this for a while now.
Paying my dues to the dirt.
I've been waiting to smile.
Been holdin it in for a while.
Take you with me if I can.
Been dreaming of this since a child.

I'm on top of the world.

Everyone cheers at this performance they did, and they all cheer for an encore.

Chunk and Michelle clap at the backstage and Michelle whistles for them and they see her giving them a thumbs up, she was impressed.

Luna looks to her little brother who also wants an encore. She then looks to her band who all nod, let's do it one more time and so they do the song one more time, along with the other sings they have performed on stage with Mick Swagger.

(Nighttime, the Loud House.)

Lincoln is sitting on his lower bunk and has heard what Luna needed to tell him. "Wow. Just …Wow. So, when do we leave?"

Luna sighs. "If you want, next week. A whole week on the very same island where you and Jordan became castaways, I know it sounds kinda rough, but I need to know if you're onboard with it bro."

Lincoln looks to Luna with a smile. "Heck yeah I'm in. But tomorrow once we tell Jordan and Sam about this we need to know if they also wanna be part of it. This is about all 4 of us finding some closure after all we've been through since this all began."

"That's the whole idea bro." Luna hugs Lincoln and he hugs her back. "Afterwards we have to inform the rest of the family about this and see if they're cool with it."

"That sounds like a rad idea sis, and I know they'll understand and would let us head onto this small retreat of ours" replied Lincoln as he continues to hug his big sister.

They both stay like this for a while, Luna recalls all the hardships and troubles they have been through, and she still has some worries about the future as they keep going with their lives as a family. School will be back on the following month, Lincoln is going to Middle School, there could be more enemies trying to come back and Lori won't be around anymore.

'Stepping up as the big sister alongside Leni is not gonna be an easy task, but I do wanna know if Leni wants a roommate. The only person who won't have a roommate would be Luan. The last time we had the big ordeal with roommates was last year, and it did not end well for any of us.'

Luna then sees that Lincoln has fallen asleep. She gently lays him onto his bed and she kisses his forehead. "Goodnight baby bro, tomorrow we make the big talk with our ladies of love and rest of the fam."

Luna then heads to her bunk and she too drifts off to sleep.

A/N: First gig off the cast and coming soon is another one week stay or retreat someplace, but will the family be onboard with it? Wait for next chapter. Leave a review and tell me what you all think.

On top of the world – Imagine Dragons.

Date made: 7/13/20 – 7/14/20.