Category Linkin Park
Simply the Best
Simply the Best
Ooh, my little pretty one, pretty one
When you gonna give me some time, Sharona?
Ooh, you make my motor run, my motor run
Gun it coming off of the line, Sharona
Emily bobbed her head to the music, pointing at Mike anytime “My Sharona” blasted through the speakers of the rented home. Mike grinned and started lip syncing back, his smile over taking his face. The aroma of steaks wafted through the open air of the backyard, the grill being tended to by Dave. Colin was sharing a bottle of some sort with Alex, the drummer showing the older man something funny on his phone. Meanwhile, Joe was sitting on a pool bench with Brad, showing the guitarist photos he had taken on the tour and catching him up on things he had missed.
“This is kinda a fucked up song when you think about it!” Emily said between the lyrics. Mike laughed and nodded.
“Oh totally,” he said, “just don’t think about it and we’ll be fine Shinoda!” he sang his last name along to the song.
Emily allowed herself to relax some more and she and Mike continued to poorly dance to the music. Tomorrow they would be busy with their show in Phoenix but there was reason to celebrate tonight.
It had been a year since the launch show. A year of the “new” Linkin Park as some had dubbed it. A year of her and Colin being thrust into the world as their newest members, with Alex tagging along as “Step-Brad”. And a year since her life completely changed.
She’d still watch the launch show, wincing at all her mistakes and offpitched misses. No wonder people had been skeptical of her, she had been visibly radiating anxious energy the whole time. More than once she had cringed while rewatching, burying her face in her hands.
But her newfound family had her back, reassuring her that it didn’t matter what people thought, they had wanted her as their lead singer. Nothing would ever change that.
“Food’s almost ready!” Dave called out as the music changed to a new song.
There's an infestation in my mind's imagination
I hope that they choke on smoke 'cause I'm smokin' them out the basement
This is not rap, this is not hip-hop
Just another attempt to make the voices stop
Rappin' to prove nothing, just writin' to say somethin'
'Cause I wasn't the only one who wasn't rushin' to sayin' nothin'
This doesn't mean I lost my dream
It's just right now I got a really crazy mind to clean
“About time!” Colin called out, “I’m starving!”
“Hi starving,” Dave replied, unable to stop himself, “I’m dad!” Emily laughed as she watched the various members of Linkin Park migrate their way to the table by the pool. Emily felt beyond blessed to be part of this. She loved Dead Sara with all her heart. Sean and Siouxsie were still her closest friends and they always would be. But there was something different about her newfound brothers. They had welcomed her with opened arms and had acted as a shield, protecting her from the whispers and cruelty from the dark corners of the web. They’d never hesitate to remind her that she was their choice, their sister now.
To be welcomed with open arms and warm smiles was all she had ever wanted.
Can you save? Can you save my?
Can you save my heavy, dirty soul?
Can you save? Can you save my?
Can you save my heavy dirty soul?
For me, for me (Uh)
Can you save my heavy, dirty soul?
For me, for me (Uh)
Can you save my heavy, dirty soul?
“You coming?” Colin asked, breaking her out of her train of thought. Emily nodded with a smile. Colin understood her, Alex too to some extent as well. All three of them were the newbies, the outsiders, forever having to prove to the critics and the former fans that they were worthy. Alex brushed the hate comments off with a simple joke, Colin always had a cool almost zen-like approach to criticism as well.
But she knew none of it compared to what people said about her, or her own inner demons. Chester’s legacy hung over her like a guillotine held up by a single strand of hair. His ghost always a presence lurking over her shoulder, whispering doubts in her mind if she was doing right by him. Those whispers had turned into roars as the anniversary loomed ever closer, with the fact that tomorrow’s show would be in his hometown an ever present source of anxiety.
A hand waving in front of her face broke her out of her head yet again.
“All good?” Dave asked softly, his eyes crinkling in that parental way that made feel safe, “you’ve been spacing out a lot today.”
“Just thinking,” she said with a small smile, “one year, you know? Somehow it’s been forever and yet only a week, you know?” Dave wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in for a tight side hug.
“I get it,” he said, “just like the past eight years have been an instant but also an eternity. But I’m glad to be back doing what I love with the people I love, and the fact that I get to do it with the three strays we’ve picked up along the way is a perk as well.” Emily laughed.
“Your first problem was giving me food, after that I just kept coming back!”
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadents
But I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeah
But it's on the table, the fire's cookin'
And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'
The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'
But I'm goin' hungry, yeah
“Mike really went all out on the playlist,” she said, eager to get the topic changed, “it’s everywhere but in like a fun way, you know? Pretty sure I heard [iBelieve it or Not earlier only for Fight for your Right to come on next.” Dave laughed.
“Well we put him in charge of the pre show playlist for a reason,” he said as they made their way to the table, “he’s always been our resident playlist maker, even back when you had to burn CDs. We always knew a new tour was almost here when he started taking song requests for the bus.”
“I’ll have you know it’s a job I take very seriously,” Mike said in mock offense as he sat at the head of the table and began passing a bottle of nonalcoholic champagne around the table, “if we had left it up to people like Chester, we would’ve played the same STP album on repeat until there was a riot on the bus.”
“It truly saved us as a band,” Brad dryly joked as he sat down, “pandemonium, utter chaos, cats and dogs getting along, it really was for the best.”
Emily poured herself a glass and sipped at her drink. “You really did a good job on the playlist Mike,” she complimented, “it’s a bit everywhere, but I like the variety.”
“A lot of these songs remind me of Chester,” Joe added. Emily raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, with Colin and Alex mirroring her confusion.
“What do you mean?” Alex asked and Joe shrugged.
“Well earlier I heard Fight for your Right and Believe it or Not, and I always associate those with him,” he explained. The song ended and a new one began playing.
… One Saturday I took a walk to Zipperhead
I met a girl there
And she almost knocked me dead
(Punk rock girl) please, look at me
(Punk rock girl) what do you see?
Let's travel round the world
Just you and me, punk rock girl
“Yeah I get what you mean,” Dave said as he pointed upwards, “every time I hear this song I remember that time he sang this at the top of his lungs in the studio,” he laughed as his eyes drifted off with fondness, “he was bouncing and spinning all around the studio the whole time. Sometimes I watch that video when I’m missing him.”
Brad nodded in agreement, “Hunger Strike always makes me think of him and Chris. I miss them both but these days I try to focus on the good times with both of them.”
Emily had seen the videos they were talking about and the corners of her mouth twitched upwards. Out of everyone officially in the band, she was the only one who had never met Chester. There had been instances where they had just missed one another, but they had never met. Colin had once at a festival, granted it was as a fan, but it was still more than Emily could say. She had watched all of their LPTV episodes shortly after she had been formally asked to join the band, Chester’s shoes becoming a massive canyon that she could never hope to fill.
“What are you guys talking about?” Mike asked, his brow furrowing, “I thought one of you put this playlist on.”
Everyone glanced at one another with looks of confusion gracing their faces. They all muttered how it wasn’t them, with some of them looking at their phones to see if they had accidentally connected to the speaker without realizing it. And one by one, they all realized that none of them had turned the music on.
“Oh this is weird,” Joe said as his eyes shifted side to side, “who switched the drinks to alcoholic ones?”
“This is some Scooby-Doo type shit,” Colin said before his own eyes widened, “wait, am I Shaggy in this scenario?”
“Oh you’re definitely Scooby,” Alex joked in an effort to put everyone more at ease, “and before you ask, I’m Scrappy here and Emily is-”
Static filled the air, Emily yelping and clasping her hands over her ears in an effort to deafen the jarring noise. Louder and louder it grew, her heart racing as she tried to figure out what the fuck was going on. The guys were trying to shout over one another, their voices lost in the chaos around them. Brad was curled under the table slowly rocking back and forth while Mike was over by the speaker, trying to figure out how to turn it off.
“It’s unplugged!” Mike shouted, his voice barely audible over the static and reverb, “I can’t get it to stop!”
Celebrate good times, come on!
The static ceased and the music continued. One by one they cautiously lowered their hands from their ears. Alex and Dave helped Brad up from his spot under the table, the older guitarist clearly shaken.
“What the fuck was that?” Brad asked breathlessly, his face ashen and pale, “I think I lost a month of my life from that.”
“I dunno,” Mike said as he held up the unplugged socket to the speaker, “but whatever it is, it’s not normal.”
Static filled the air again but instead of getting louder, the music shifted again.
You’re simply the best!
Better than all the rest
Better than anyone
Anyone I’ve ever met
“Zoinks,” Colin said and Brad shot him a look, “sorry, reflex.” Emily looked over at Mike for some sort of guidance, and he gasped before dropping the power cord. Digging through his back pocket, Mike pulled out his wallet.
“Are you trying to bribe whatever gremlins are causing this?” Joe asked.
“I don’t think they take credit, they’re a strictly cash only species.” Alex said with a small smirk. Mike was quiet as he opened his wallet and unzipped the coin slot and pulled something out. Grinning, he held it up for all of them to see.
It was a guitar pick. Emily had seen him fiddling with a similar one as they made their albums but she had never asked about it. Mike looked at it fondly before chuckling and looking up.
“Is this you?” he asked the sky above them, “you’ve always known how to make a dramatic entrance.”
“Oh cool Mike’s losing it finally,” Joe said, “he really was overdue for it.”
“You say that like Mike ever had it,” Brad quipped. Mike grinned as he turned the pick around, displaying a signature that Emily didn’t recognize.
“I know it sounds crazy,” Mike began explaining, “but do you guys remember the night you all showed up to The Stockroom? It was the night before we launched the countdown timer and wrote the first draft of Let You Fade.” They all hesitantly nodded. The thing Emily had remembered most was how Mike’s studio had smelled of rum and how red his eyes had been. He had refused to go into details, dodging any questions about what had happened before their arrival.
“He visited me that night,” Mike said with a soft smile, “and we talked. Told me it was okay that we were moving on and he was proud of us.”
Emily scanned the room, hoping to see if the others were just as bewildered as to what Mike was going on about. Colin and Alex matched her confusion to her relief, but Brad, Dave, and Joe all had wide eyes, their mouths slightly agape.
“You can’t be serious,” Dave spoke first, only for Mike to grin impossibly wider.
“I am man!” he insisted, “I swear on my kids that I talked to him and he’s talking to us right now!”
“Not to sound like an idiot,” Colin interrupted, “but who are you talking about?”
Backstreet’s back, alright!
Emily’s mouth felt like a rubber band with how it contorted in confusion. But Mike just laughed.
“You really do like making an entrance, don’t you Chester?”
Emily took a half step back as the music shifted with crackling static.
Oops! I did it again!
I played with your heat
Got lost in the game
“Wait wait wait,” Dave said, raising his hands and shaking his head as he tried to sort out the events going on around him, “you’re saying not only is this Chester, but that he’s done this before?” Static filled the air again as the music changed.
All I do is win win win no matter what!
“I think he’s trying to say you’re right,” Mike said with a large smile, “and I know I sound crazy, but I swear it’s him.” Looking up, Mike smirked, “although, he’s apparently expanded his music horizons. Last time we did this he only used our music.”
‘Cause now I’m stronger than yesterday
Now it’s nothing but my way
“Well,” Alex said with a shrug, “Chester Bennington using Brittney Spears to talk through the veil is not the weirdest thing I’ve experienced.”
“You can not tell me that you believe this,” Brad said, his voice dripping in skepticism. Not that Emily blamed him. Ghosts communicating through music? She felt like a hypocrite though, after all, she had once taken her ex’s dog to a dog psychic. But that had been fun and she hadn’t fully believed in it, not one hundred percent at least. This right here? It was hard to argue with what she was seeing - or rather hearing - right in front of her.
“I don’t know how else to explain it man,” Mike said with a shrug, his hands upturned, “the speakers are unplugged, no one’s connected to them, and yet there’s music still playing and talking to us.”
Yeah I know
Yeah I know
I’m just talking to myself
“Let’s say this is actually Chester,” Dave started slowly, “why’s he here now? Not to sound rude man, but it’s been seven years.”
“I mean,” Joe said with a tilt of his head, “it’s one year since we came back. Mike said the last time was right before we launched the countdown timer. Maybe he just wants to talk about that?” Static danced through the speakers before a new song began to play.
Then before you know, you lose some people close
Forcing you to manage your pace
Found your capacity for love and tragedy
Embracing how things always change
You've had your turns with (Relative pain)
Little less concerned when there's (Nothin' in the tank)
In a season of lessons learned in giving up
You learn what you can and can't take, mm-hm
Add some years, build some trust
You start to feel your eyes adjust
When darkness rolls on you
Push on through
Push on through
“You’re really okay with all of this?” Joe asked softly, his voice barely audible over the music, “sometimes I wonder if people were right and we should’ve just changed our name and started over. Or if we should’ve just called it quits altogether”
Emily’s eyes drifted to the ground, noting how Colin’s did the same. It didn’t matter that time and time again the two of them had been assured by their newfound brothers that staying as Linkin Park was the right call, the doubt always hung over their heads.
And you're sure you've hurt in a way
That no one will ever know
But someday the weight of the world
Will give you the strength to go
Hold on, the weight of the world
Will give you the strength to go
“Really?” Emily found herself asking, her armor of self confidence chipping at the music, “you don’t think I’m tarnishing your legacy? “
“Is that what you think?” Mike asked as he strode towards her, the others not far behind him. One by one they huddled around her until she was completely surrounded by her newfound brothers, “do you really think we would’ve picked you if we didn’t think you were the right choice?” Emily’s shoulders slumped.
“Have you been reading through those critics and Reddit pages again?” Dave asked gently as he took her hands, “you know that there’s always gonna be people who want to see us fail, it’s been that way since Hybrid Theory.” Emily felt her lip quiver as she admitted,
“But they’re not just anyone, they’re your fans.”
“They were our fans,” Brad said, “anyone who thinks we made this decision lightly and without some heavy internal strife is not someone we want running around saying they’re our fans.”
“And the ones who matter are your fans now too,” Mike added as he brought all of them in with a group hug, “not just us, but you and Colin - hell even Alex - have every right to say that those are your fans too.”
“You mean I didn’t get a Naughty Guitarist shirt for my winning personality?” Alex asked in mock shock and Emily couldn’t help but laugh at his attempt at diffusing the atmosphere. Brad playfully shoved Alex into Colin, who in turn shoved him into Dave.
Living life is fun and we've just begun
To get our share of this world's delights
(High) High hopes we have for the future
And our goal's in sight
(We) No, we don't get depressed
Here's what we call our golden rule
Have faith in you and the things you do
You won't go wrong, oh-no, this is our family jewel
We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up everybody and sing
Emily wiped the tears that were forming at the corner of her eyes at Chester’s music choice. She had always felt like an outsider her whole life and even in the throes of fame she still very much felt like one. Being asked to come back for jam sessions again and again, even if all they did was shoot the shit, had been the one of the few glimpses she had seen of what it had felt like to truly belong. The only thing comparable to that had been being with Sean and Siouxsie, but what she had felt with Linkin Park was different.
I know what it takes to move on
I know how it feels to lie
All I wanna do is trade this life for something new
Holding on to what I haven’t got
Emily smiled as her favorite song sang through the air. It’s lyrics weren’t in sequential order as whatever force, maybe it actually was Chester, did its best to convey its message
And tryin' to figure out what it's like movin' on
And I don't even know what kind of things I said
My mouth kept movin' and my mind went dead
So I'm pickin' up the pieces now, where to begin
The hardest part of endin' is startin' again
“Even Chester agrees,” Mike assured her, “Em, I don’t know why he can talk like this and trying to interpret what he’s trying to say is hard, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence he’s using this song to tell you that he approves. Just like he’s always going to be our brother, you’re always going to be our sister, and fuck all of them who try and say otherwise.”
Mike looked up at Colin and Alex before adding, “and I know he likes you guys too.”
“How can you tell?” Colin asked before the music changed.
I'm bringin' sexy back (yeah)
Them other boys don't know how to act (yeah)
I think it's special, what's behind your back (yeah)
Static overcame the song before a new one began playing.
Play that funky music, white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music, white boy
Lay down that boogie
And play that funky music 'til you die
“Let’s call it a gut feeling,” Mike laughed, “seems like those fan girls aren’t the only ones who like that we chose you.” Colin did a fake hair flip despite the baseball cap covering his curls.
“Damn straight.” The drummer said as the music shifted yet again.
I know the dance to Single Ladies but I won’t do it so don’t make me
For the first time the music paused and they looked up in confusion. Emily didn’t know this song and by the looks of the others they didn’t either. At least, until Alex gave that lopsided grin of his.
“Oh fine I get my heels go and cue up the song?” He sang back and applause erupted through the speakers before continuing
I'm a genius, I'm a giant, a bright light in a time of setting suns
I believe it, I deny it, I'm tired of being the only one
“He even found my music!” Alex said, his smile impossibly wider, “I can’t wait to tell Ale this.” Static filled the air once more as the music changed and Emily felt her throat tighten as she recognized the song.
Hellbent on growing up, everything bottled up
Like a caged animal drinking to the unknown
And maybe, our love is never wasted
Wilted and faded like flowers on pavement
We drink champagne to any occasion
We were dreaming of far away places
Started a band
Saying one day we'll make it big
One day we'll make it big
One day we'll make it big
One day we'll make it big
Yeah one day we'll make it big
“The man has spoken,” Mike said with a firm pat on her back, “no more self doubt from anyone here, okay?” Emily nodded before wrapping her arms around Mike in a tight hug. One by one everyone enveloped her until they were a mass of bodies in a tight embrace.
“Let’s keep the party going!” Joe said as they separated, “I got a cake and we absolutely are blowing out candles when dinner is over. Don’t worry, it’s vegan so you can have it too Emily.”
Emily smiled and looked among the bright faces of her family. A warmth spread around her like a mother’s love, her family growing by one more in her mind.
****
I had been meaning to write a sequel to Let You Fade but I found that my discord’s fall writing event fit this perfectly! I went with Prompt #4 which included Supernatural, Alcohol, and Misunderstandings! I SWEAR I AM WORKING ON MY OTHER STUFF I PINKY PROMISE
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