On Tour

"Guys, ten minutes, alright?" Some random guy from the venue poked his head into the room where they had been sitting all day, bored as hell and ready to finally go on stage and "kick ass", as Matt would phrase it.

Speaking of Matt, he still hadn't left the shower room with Sarah, his girlfriend, who was unfortunately visiting at the moment. This time, Karma didn't feel the pang she normally did, mainly because she knew they weren't doing in there, but arguing. She knew all too well what it was about.

But at that moment, she couldn't care less. They had ten minutes until stage time and Johnny was still passed out on the sofa, a large lampshade over his head, uttering sounds. She motioned for Zacky to start filming. On their tour, she and Jimmy had suggested little nonsense videos about ten or five minutes before walking on stage and playing them live for the waiting crowd. Judging from the fans reactions, they seemed to love it.

"Action!" Zack said, and Brian and her started doing various things with Johnny's limbs while Jimmy was nearly pissing himself laughing. "Qué paso, El Paso?" Syn said and proceeded to introduce them in Spanish, purposely calling Johnny Christ "ella", the Spanish pronoun for "she".

For a second, Karma grew emotional at the thought of how much they'd all grown together. The guys all went to high school together, so it was only natural for them to be best friends, but the way she was welcomed into the band back then still amazed her. They were six best friends making music together, nothing more, nothing less. Well, if it wasn't for... the thing with Matt.

"Five," the guy said again and Johnny finally got to his feet. "Guys, where are we?" Brian chuckled. Jimmy did some ninja moves to warm up, and Karma replied, "We're in El Paso, Texas, Taste of Chaos tour, does that ring a bell? Are you ready, short shit?" That name coming from her, who was a solid two inches smaller than him, made them all burst out laughing.

With the unpleasant sound of metal hitting metal, the door to the shower cages swung open and revealed Matt, already in his stage clothes. A red colored hand shape on his cheek and some scratches on his enormous arms showed exactly what they'd been doing.

Sarah, a platinum blond bitch who was thin as a rake with zero curves stood behind him, make-up smeared all over her face, crying. Why is he even seeing her? Karma felt no remorse, partly because Sarah hit her a few days earlier, too, not to mention the countless threats she'd been sending her regularly.

Without saying anything, she motioned for Matt to come closer, and he sat down on the couch. Inside, she braced herself for what would be coming, her touching him. She grabbed the tube of make-up and pressed some droplets onto her fingers, carefully and evenly spreading it onto his face so her handprint wouldn't be visible when he went on stage. In the meanwhile, their bodyguard Dan "the Body" let out Sarah. And "let out" meant throw out.

Karma forced herself to ignore the consuming feeling of touching him. He was looking ever so handsome with his slight stubble, although she really missed his lip ring. He'd taken it out just weeks ago. It was strange to be so close again seeing as they had been avoiding each other for quite a time now. It felt incredibly good, and Karma knew exactly he was feeling the same from the way he was staring at her lips.

There was just... some invisible force pulling them together, no matter how innocently they touched. Whether they just sat next to each other at the dinner table or slept in the same room, but in different bunks. It was there all the time.

When she was done, it took her all of her strength to pull away instead of giving in and kissing him. After all these years, she was surprisingly good at avoiding those thoughts. It amazed her that nothing ever happened, well... except... "AND NOW!" The guy from some minutes earlier poked his head inside. Showtime.

The guys went onto the stage one after another, Matt being the last one of course. As their sexy front man he made sure to make a grand entrance, even though he had to play the organ right at the beginning. She peeked out, feeling the energy of tens of thousands screaming their name, Avenged Sevenfold. She watched as Matt sat down and laid his fingers on the keys, playing the first note from Critical Acclaim.

Karma closed the door and leaned against it, allowing herself to think back to their beginnings once more, knowing that after the song, she would be on stage with them. While they sung almost every song together, Critical Acclaim was their guys' song, and Matt remained quiet in Sedated Serenade, a song Karma had written even before she'd joined the band.


The days at Mr. King's office were long and draggy. During lunch break, Karma went into her car, blasted some Pantera, Guns n' Roses or Metallica and sang along. And it just happened that Matt, who came to the office rather frequently with Larry for some modifications in their contract, walked by, heard her singing and asked her to come to their rehearsal.

She started skipping office days and calling in sick just to be able to practice with them. The drive to Huntington Beach, where they were rehearsing at Matt's parents' house, was short and sometimes she didn't come home for days, and slept on Brian's couch. They progressed quickly with writing the new album, City of Evil.

Since her parents were in San Francisco and made her sleep at her aunt's in Los Angeles during the internship, she simply told them she was at her aunt's and told her aunt she was back home. Simple as that.

Howard King proved that, deep down inside, he must have a heart. He never told her parents she didn't come. It only much later that she discovered he loved the band's music and knew all along that Karma would fit.

After recording, the guys and her unanimously decided they were now a band of six and from that day on, they'd performed together, finding ways and harmonies for her to sing along with Waking the Fallen songs, too.

To be the first metal band with two lead singers, a man and a woman, was incredibly beneficial for them, as well as Zacky and Brian with the dueling guitars. The public eye was interested from day one since it was an interesting concept, and after publishing an amazing album which was so different and edgy, they were widely known. They hoped to reach a new high with their self-titled album this year, which they were promoting on their recent tour.

Karma took a deep breath and threw herself a last glance in the mirror before disposing of her bathrobe, revealing a black cropped top with the deathbat on it. With it, she wore black skinny jeans, and for the first couple of songs before it got too hot, a customized leather jacket with yet another deathbat, a present from Jimmy.

She heard the strings of Afterlife and when it was time, ran onto the stage and started performing. The crowd was amazing that night. Everything passed in a blur. Electricity hung in the air, right until the very last note of the encore, A Little Piece of Heaven.

They always made sure to give them a show, but this time, Matt surprised her by coming closer during the part in which he begged her for forgiveness, touching her and falling down to his knees, something the audience seemed to love.

After getting married by Zack, he even pulled her close and danced with her. She felt her knees weaken at their sudden closeness, but being a real pro on stage, she managed to finish the song without anyone noticing. Usually, they didn't touch when they didn't have to. It was just too much tension.

They finally finished, gave out some setlists, picks and drumsticks, signed some items and posed for a bunch of photos before walking back to the bus, where the hardcore fans and, of course, the slutty groupies were waiting already.

Karma threw them a disgusted look as they flashed their boobs, but much to her surprise, Matt walked into the bus without giving them another look. It rarely occurred that he didn't at least flirt, especially not after a fight with Sarah.

"So it's true, huh?" One of them screamed, her voice cracking at some times, "Karma Strikes and M Shadows, you're together?"

Without a further comment, she flipped them off and entered the bus. She wished nothing more than for those rumors to finally cease, but it was hard to deny them when they were true, at least to a point. Karma knew exactly where they were coming from, and there was a strong piece of evidence linking the two of them together. Except they weren't.

Suddenly angry, she stomped back to Matt's bunk and opened it without knocking. She was startled at the sight of him there, stark ass naked, his backside facing her. I should have known, she thought, seeing as Matt always disposed of his sweaty clothes first thing after the show.

For a brief second, she let her mind wander back to the video shoot of Seize the Day, where she'd seen him naked for the first time. Why does that man have to have such a perfect ass?

"See something you like?" he said as he turned around with a chuckle, covering his monster with his hands. He chuckled at her hesitation. That man was never uncomfortable with himself. Why can't he at least dress himself now that I'm here, she wondered.

"They won't stop Matt," she said accusingly, motioning out of the window, which was of a special fabric so that you could look outside, but no-one could look inside. "Well, do I look like I care about their shitty opinions on us?"

Karma swallowed. She knew that deep down, he was a genuine and grateful man. None of the band members loved their fans more, even the ones that didn't try or succeed to sleep with him.

The fans were out there, screaming and trying to get on the bus. Thank God for Big T and Dan, Karma thought.

"So?" he said, turning around again to put on some boxers, "anything else you wanted except that?"
"You should pick one up, that way it'd stop," she heard herself say, knowing she would be hearing some lucky girl's screams all night in her bunk, which was right next to his. That man must have a stamina. Her cheeks flushed at the thought.

"Nah, I'm not interested," he stated, "Sarah and I had another fight about that today if you didn't notice, and you're not innocent either, you know that." She huffed. You're not innocent. Well, the only one who was truly not innocent was him, right?

He really had the nerve to bring that up now?
"I'm not innocent? It's you who's cheating, you asshole! Not me. And I was so drunk, I don't even remember a thing, so you probably SUCKED!" she whizzed at him, noticing how his jaw clenched.

Without waiting for his reply, she slammed the door behind her.

Notes

UPDATE :) Some of you seem to be keen on the story already so I'm probably going to continue :)

Thoughts? What is it that happened?