May I have your attention for just a minute or two! (maybe three if you read slow) First of all, thanks for reading this fan-made ending to Requiem of a Loud by UnderratedHero (It's a really good story btw, go check it out!). I'm not going to spoil it for you (I mean this story, not the original), but I am going to tell you that you will be surprised to find that there is more than one part at the end of this one. I really like how I've done it so far and I am still working on the second part. I don't know when it will be out, but I can tell you that it will definitely come out before the end of the month. Again this is not the official ending of the story, it is just the way that I would like it to end. I can almost guarantee that the real story will not end like this one (although it would be cool if it did!) Anyway, enjoy the first part of my fan-made ending of "Requiem for a Loud"
Part One - Loss.
"Lincoln!"
Everyone rushed over to see him laying on the ground, unconscious, but not dead; not yet. Lisa rushed to the scene with a full body scanner to see what the problem was. All of them knew what he had, but despite him having comforted them about his eventual passing, they still freaked out every time something like this happened.
"Everyone, move out of the way. There needs to be optimal space around his body in order for this scan to be fully rectified!"
Lisa took a device from her back pocket, pressed a button and immediately started scanning Lincoln for anomalies. After about five seconds, the device beeped and started flashing red. Slowly, Lisa read the results of the scan and upon finishing it, hung her head.
"He is alive. Unconscious, but alive." The rest of the girls let out a sigh of relief at first but then tensed up again upon hearing Lisa's next sentence. "That being said, he won't be for much longer. I'm giving him an hour, tops." The family genius could barely contain herself saying that. She tried to convince herself that he wasn't going to die. But the facts were all there, and they had to be presented, whether she wanted to or not.
"What if he doesn't wake up before then?!" the worried twins ask.
"Listen to me you guys..." Lori comforted, trying not to break into tears herself. "We have all tried to make sure he has had the best time of his life these past two and a half weeks, right?"
Everyone nodded in agreement, smiling just a little bit. "Then we all need to stop worrying. If Lincoln doesn't wake up before he... before he... he..." Lori was beginning to break down thinking about her brother finally passing. It was not something that was easy to face for any of them. Their only brother, dying, possibly painfully, just the thought of it made it feel like a knife was slowly easing itself down on their chests. All those feelings aside, she was quickly able to regain control of herself, for the sake of her siblings. "Before he... passes... then none of us should feel bad or guilty or anything like that. We'll know, all of us, that we were there for him until the very end."
The eight sisters that understood what was going on all smiled slightly. Lily hobbled over to where Lincoln was laying, sat down, and started babbling incoherently, patting his face in an attempt to wake him up. She was so adorable, yet so innocent and oblivious. She was the only one who wasn't and couldn't feel the way the others could, and if the rest of them were being honest with themselves, they were slightly envious that she couldn't feel that way.
Leni picked her baby sister up and the rest of them helped carry Lincoln to the couch. It so happened that if the cushions were taken off, the couch was able to fold out to become a bed. They pulled it out and placed a few pillows on the head of it. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable bed, but Lincoln had already tested it and said that it would work. Once it was ready they put him down on it.
"Lincoln's going to wake up again. I know he will," Lola claimed.
"Yeah," Lana chimed in. "He'll wake up again."
They all needed Lola and Lana's confidence right now. The rest of them weren't so sure that he would come to again. Nevertheless, they gathered around his bed. This was what he wanted. He didn't want to be rushed to the hospital in the last few minutes of his life. Being in a hospital bed, hooked up to a bunch of different machines and tubes was the last thing he wanted. Besides, he might have not even made it to the hospital on time to say his final goodbyes. His sisters didn't want that for him either, so they agreed to do this when he asked. Rita and Lynn Sr were obviously reluctant at first, but they did eventually understand the reason why and approved of the plan.
Twenty minutes passed and Lincoln opened his eyes. Every one of his sisters were on either side of the bed looking down at the floor. The only exception was Lily who seemed to be distracted by Leni's sunglasses. Trying to keep himself from getting too down at the way his other sisters were acting, he chuckled at how cute Lily was being. After all, he wasn't going to see anything else this light-hearted again. Immediately all of his sisters looked at him with bright smiles on their faces.
"Linky! You're awake!"
"Yeah Leni, I am."
Lily cooed at Lincoln as Leni put her down on the bed. She crawled on top of him and curled up on his chest, eliciting a series of "aww's" from the rest of his sisters. She fell asleep as he wrapped his arms around her.
Lola and Lana were the next ones to get on the bed with him. Despite how rough they may have treated him, he was always there for them; always coming up with a compromise to stop them from fighting. They loved him. And probably more than he realized.
"Please don't go..." Lana sniffled with tears streaming down her face. She plopped her head, which was slightly turned sideways, down on his shirt, beginning to stain it with her tears.
"Please Linky... We... We love you..." Lola proceeded to do the same thing Lana did, except on the opposite side.
"I don't know what we're gonna do without you bro..." Luna chirped.
"You'll move on..." Lincoln responded, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible. He knew that there wasn't much else he could say. He was dying and his sisters were all well aware of that so it seemed like the only thing to say.
"Whaddaya mean? We can't just move on!" Luan quipped.
"Yes, you can and you will!" The room went silent at the sudden command that was given. Even Lincoln was surprised with the ferocity with which he gave it, but they needed to hear it. "Listen guys, I know it's gonna be hard at first, but you will eventually have to move on, with or without me."
"But how are we gonna do it? To half of your sisters, you've been there for them their whole lives. It's gonna be so different."
"I know it will, and I hate to have to say this, but if you love me and you love this family, then you'll pull together and get through it. No exceptions."
He was absolutely right and they all knew it. If they didn't continue like nothing was wrong, the Louds would fall into complete chaos. They could mourn for a few weeks but after that they had to pull themselves together and be the family that they needed to be. The family that only they could be. They had to do it for him. But they also had to do it for Lily, because she wouldn't remember anything and if she saw them depressed all the time, it would have an effect on her, and they just couldn't do that to their baby sister.
He never wrote it down when he was planning "operation farewell" but he knew that this moment would come, and had a plan in mind that needed to be executed. It was something that was so small, so inconsequential, something that he could have easily not said, but it was something that he didn't say often enough. It was something that he needed to tell all of his sisters before time ran out. Nothing would change his mind now.
He looked over to his oldest sister, the one who had been there for him his whole life. Despite her many personality flaws, how angry she got, how emotional she was, she had always been there for not just Lincoln, but for all of them. It was amazing how she could be so strict, yet at the same time, so loving for her siblings.
"Lori?"
"Yes Lincoln?"
Waiting for a second, he took a deep breath, then said, almost breaking down into tears, "I love you Lori."
Her mostly solid composure fell apart in an instant and tears started rolling down her face. If it weren't for Lana, Lola, and Lily, she probably would have collapsed on top of him, but she controlled herself, and knelt beside the bed. She took her face in his hand and and slowly moved it down to his chin. She repeated this motion a few times, looking at all of his specific features. His white hair, the freckles he had, his chipped buck teeth. She was never going to see any of it again, except in pictures. She barely squeaked out the words whilst still crying, "I love you too Linc."
Lincoln opened her arms to embrace her big sister in a hug to which she fell into. Lori had always been the one to comfort her other siblings when they needed it, it had never been the other way around. Now that it was, for the first time, she understood why they all needed her as much as they did. It was so comforting to have someone to completely break down on. She had most always been the one that her immediate younger sisters and brother came to when they needed someone to cry on, now it was her turn to cry on someone. She needed to know what it felt like, so that she could know the comfort that was felt when she would eventually do the same again.
Finally, she broke off of Lincoln after calming down a bit and took Lily to her crib where she peacefully slept. Lana and Lola had mostly calmed down by now and were now both sitting on their respective edges of the bed. Lori figured that there would be more to come and asked them both to hop off of the bed, to which they responded in a way that was quite unenthusiastic.
"Leni?"
"Yeah Linky?"
There was less hesitation this time, but it was still genuine. "I love you Leni."
As if Leni finally understood what was going on, she dropped to her knees, suddenly pale faced. Everyone thought that she was going to faint, but instead, she ran over to the side of Lincoln's bed. She wrapped him up in her arms, and laying her head on his chest, she cried. She cried, and cried, and cried until Lincoln's shirt was just about soaked. Finally, she looked him in his eyes, admiring them for just a moment before speaking. "I love you too Linky. I always will." She put her head back down and cried for a few more seconds. Lincoln wrapped his arms around her and she reciprocated the motion. Finally, Leni, with a quivering lip, looked at Lincoln with a small smile and hugged him around the neck one last time before getting up and proceeding to move out of the way of Luna, who was already making her way down. She had rightfully guessed that she was next, based on the order that Lincoln had called them so far, however she decided not to get up close to him until he called her name. Lisa recognized the order in which he was going, and was slightly upset that she would be last, but still, it did make sense.
"Luna?"
"sup bro?" She knelt down next to his bed and took his hand in hers.
"I love you Luna."
Luna looked down for a moment as if to compose herself. It wasn't easy to hear this from her dying brother, yet for some reason, it was the only thing she wanted to hear. She whimpered a little bit, then looked back up at him with tears in her eyes, "I love you too lil' bro."
They hugged each other more tightly than either of them had done before, but it didn't hurt. It was warm, and comforting, and everything a hug should be. It could have lasted for ages, however, they both knew that Lincoln didn't have a lot of time left so, reluctantly, they let each other go. Luna, for some reason, was the only one who didn't completely break down at the sound of her little brother's heartfelt words. She was crying just like the others, the sight of her little brother dying was too much even for her, but she was able to control herself. Luna finally stepped back and let Luan take her place.
"Luan?"
She walked up and sat on the side of the bed, looking at him, with tears already in her eyes. After some consideration, she asked him a rhetorical question. "What is it Linc?"
"I love you Luan."
Apparently, there was something about him saying that to each one of their siblings that broke their hearts. Luan was no exception, because she threw her arms around him and started crying. "I... I love you too Linc..." She held onto him, almost as if to not lose him. He returned the hug and she started sobbing even more. Lincoln rarely saw the comedian cry. Seeing her or any of her other siblings like this, nearly made him break down every time. He hated it so much, but there was nothing he could do to avoid the pain. Luan held on for a few seconds more before letting go and backing away.
Lynn hadn't been paying much attention to what was going on. She was busy thinking about how she would be able to go on without Lincoln. So when he called her name, she was a bit shocked.
"Lynn?"
"I didn't do it!"
"Lynn?" Lincoln chuckled. She suddenly realized what was going on and ran over to the side of the bed. She sat on it and leaned in closer to him.
"What is it Lincoln?"
Putting his hand on her shoulder, he gently told her the same thing that he told the rest of his sisters, "I love you Lynn."
She reached up and grabbed the hand that was on her shoulder and held it tight, her bottom lip quivering a little bit. Then, falling on him, she broke down, just like her other sisters did. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto him with her head laying across his chest. Lincoln hugged her back and stroked her hair as she continued sobbing on his shirt, now drenched from his other sisters as well.
"I love you too... and I... I don't want you to go..." she cried silently. Even though she knew what had really happened that day, she couldn't help but feel a slight pang of guilt for what happened.
"Please... don't leave us..."
She would have kept crying on top of him till he passed. She didn't care. No one else could feel what she was feeling right then. Not even her own sisters could feel the same thing despite the fact that he was the only brother to all of them. The guilt, the pain, the sorrow was more than she could handle. It was worse than what the rest of them felt, because she was the one who felt closest to their brother. She was the one who protected him the most. She was the one who needed him the most, and she couldn't stand the thought of losing him. If Lori had never pulled her off, she would have stayed attatched to Lincoln to the end of time. She was losing, not just her only brother, but her favorite sibling.
"NO!" she tried holding onto him, like a little kid not wanting to leave the house. Tears kept streaming from her eyes. It was pure torture.
"You have to let go Lynn. He still has things he needs to say!"
"I don't want to..."
"Ouch!"
Instantly, everyone gasped and Lynn released her grip on Lincoln. "I'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'M SORRYI'MSORRY!"
"It's okay Lynn, it wasn't you..." Lincoln lied. This didn't calm anyone down, if anything, it made them realize how short their time was with him, however it worked in calming Lynn from her hysteria. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if the last thing she did to her brother was hurt him. Lynn stood up leaning her head onto Lori's side and kept crying. Normally, Lori would have made her get off, but considering the circumstances, she let it slide this time. Lucy was next.
"Lucy?"
Instead of scaring him by suddenly appearing like she normally would, she made her presence known to the group before going up to him and sitting down on the bed cross-legged next to him. Although he couldn't see her eyes, her gaze was piercing. It made him remember that he lied to her. He told her that he was okay when that could not have been further from the truth. She later discovered on her own that this was happening and was forced to confront her about it. They made up in the junkyard where Lucy revealed that she wasn't sad about him lying to her, but rather about his imminent demise. Despite that, he still wasn't sure if she she actually forgave him for Lying. She never said that she did and it bothered him to some extent. He said sorry so many times, yet never heard her express her forgiveness. But, if she didn't forgive him, it wasn't his problem. He said sorry and that was all he could do.
Lincoln, obviously feeling guilty for what he did, didn't give Lucy a chance to speak. "I love you Lucy."
Lucy started breaking up, "Under normal circumstances my dark lords would never allow me say such a thing, but these aren't exactly normal circumstances. I... I love you too Lincoln."
They hugged each other for a brief moment. Underneath the black hair covering her eyes, Lincoln could see tears falling down Lucy's face. This was something that never happened; a rare event in the Loud house. He himself had only ever seen it once, nevertheless, no one was surprised by it. Lincoln wiped the tears from her brooding face and they hugged one more time. "By the way, I forgive you Lincoln."
Lincoln's face became noticeably more relaxed. She knew it would make everyone else mad by saying it, but she could see the look in his eyes. She had seen it so many times before. This was his way of practically begging for forgiveness. She knew what it was for too. She had already forgiven him for it, but hearing it, to him, meant that much more.
Almost as soon as she got off, the twins jumped on him and hugged him, clinging to him desperately. "We love you Lincoln!" they said in unison, breaking out into tears.
"Please stay..." Lana told him. "We can't live without you..."
"You can't leave us..." Lola said.
"I love you guys too..." Lincoln started. His words only made them sob more violently. "But there's nothing I can do." At this point they were both completely distraught with seemingly no way to snap them out of it. Their hysterical crying nearly brought Lincoln himself to tears, he couldn't stand seeing them this sad. He pulled himself together though and, carefully thinking it through, started speaking to them. He pulled them closer in. Hearing their brother's voice calmed them down enough to listen.
"I have a special request for you guys..."
"What is it?
"Anything!"
Sighing, he looked over at Lily. He needed someone to tell Lily about him. Otherwise, she would just grow up, never knowing that she had an older brother. She would see the pictures obviously, but she would have so many sisters, she wouldn't know who to ask about him. It was easier to assign this task. Lincoln started explaining, "I'm leaving you two in charge of making sure that Lily knows about me when she's old enough. I want you to teach her everything about me, tell her anything you want, tell her everything, all of our memories together, all the good times we had and the bad ones if you really want to. I'm leaving you guys in charge of letting her know all that, because for one, Lisa's always busy with something."
"Normally, I would be quite disturbed by this, but it is the truth."
"And two... she's not gonna remember me. She's too young." Even though it had only been a few minutes, Lily woke up again upon hearing her name. She babbled on until she caught the attention of Luna, who picked her up and brought her over to the crowd. "So I'm leaving it to you two. Can you promise me you'll tell her stories about me?"
"I promise Linc."
"I promise too," they both stood up on the bed and made a military salute on their foreheads. Their own clothes were now moist with tears as well with a few stray droplets still falling from their eyes.
"I love you guys," they knelt down and he pulled them in for a hug one more time before letting them go. When he did they reluctantly got off of the bed, trying to stay as close to him as possible. Finally, it was Lisa's turn. She walked up to the edge of the bed and successfully pulled herself on top of it, finally ending up standing on the mattress next to Lincoln.
"I apologize that I was not able to conceive an antidote for your medical situation," Lisa started, but then her demeanor changed drastically and her voice changed from a monotonous one to a disappointing one. "I was so close too..."
"It's okay Lisa."
"No it's not. I was responsible for saving your life and I failed!" she yelled, falling on her knees.
"Lisa, stop it!" It was torture hearing her release her anger at the fact that she thought she was responsible for saving him. He had to say something. "Don't you remember what I told you when I first got home?"
"I don't seem to recall, but what's the point?"
"I told you that you shouldn't need to feel responsible for my death and that if you weren't able to save me, that you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. It's not your fault!"
"But I didn't..."
"None of that matters now. You will always be my sister no matter what happens!"
"But..."
"Lisa, it's okay. I still love you anyway."
Lisa, who was normally the most stoic of the Loud kids, burst into tears as she fell on top of her older brother. She wrapped her arms around him as far as she possibly could and he did the same. The two of them embraced each other in a warm, comforting hug. Lisa had never hugged nor been hugged like this. It was a new feeling, a good feeling, one that she wanted to enjoy again. As she held him a couple of words escaped her mouth. "I love you too Lincoln."
Lisa hopped down and joined the rest of her sisters. Lincoln saw Lily in Luna's arms and immediately he made eye contact with his baby sister. Luna placed her down on the foot of the bed and she crawled up the middle of Lincoln's legs toward him. He managed to sit up a little bit before grabbing her and letting her sit on his lower chest. She giggled, reaching for his nose.
"Lily?" she looked up at him. "I know you're not gonna remember this, but I want you to know, that I love you, so much. After I'm gone, Lola and Lana will tell you everything about me. They won't ever let you forget that you have a big brother who loves you... so... so much..." Lincoln started tearing up himself. The thought that he would never be able to see his baby sister grow up was devastating. What kind of things would she like? What will she look like when she's older? How is she going to find out about him? None of these questions would be answered before he leaves. It upset him, but Lily, seeing her brother's distress, crawled up his shirt and put her hands on his eyes, trying to wipe her big brother's tears. Lincoln chuckled a little noticing this, and calmed himself down for her sake. She cooed softly and laid her head down to rest on his chest, his heartbeat gently lulling her to sleep.
Lola and Lana sprung on the bed once again and cuddled up on either side of him. The rest of his sisters gathered around the bed. None of them had realized that Lisa's time estimate had been past due by about fifteen minutes. He was supposed to die before he finished, yet for some reason, he was allowed to be able to say his final words to all of his sisters. Even now, he still had a little bit of time. All he wanted in his final moments, was his family.
As he felt his final moments approaching, he grabbed the nearest hand that was on each side of him. On his left, it was Lynn, on his right, it was Luna. The rest of his sisters, with the exception of the twins and Lily, grabbed onto either one of Lincoln's hands, three in one hand, three in the other. He noticed that one hand was missing, the hand of his oldest sister. At first, Lincoln was a bit distraught. Didn't his oldest sister want to be with her brother in his last moments? His thoughts quickly subsided as he found the missing hand. Instead of holding one of his hands, Lori, from behind the couch, decided to stroke his hair to try to calm his and her own nerves. Lincoln enjoyed it.
He felt no pain; no struggle. It was all washed away by his sisters' love and it was the only thing he could have asked for. His last breaths weren't labored or hurtful, they felt natural and normal. He could have died right then, and wouldn't have even known. He looked at each and every one of his sisters, noticing every little thing about them. The shape of their faces, their eye colors, their hair colors, which ones had freckles. He noticed every little imperfection in the skin on their face. As far as he was concerned, they were perfect. He wanted a good look at them one last time before he left. Finally scanning over all of them, he closed his eyes. This was going to be their last memory with him and he wanted them to savor the moment. It was the perfect picture. Lily was quietly snoring on top of his chest, Lana and Lola were clutching his side, whimpering just a bit, Lori was still stroking his hair, and his other siblings were holding onto their only brother. If someone were to take a picture of this moment, it would perfectly capture the atmosphere in the room.
The Louds didn't really have any specific religion. They didn't really even consider themselves religious folks. Yet for some reason, Lincoln felt the need to say a silent prayer to himself. A prayer, not for his sake, but for his sisters. He was going to die, there was nothing he could do to change that, but they would have to move on without him, without their only brother.
"Please keep my sisters safe, and don't ever let them forget who they are."
And with that, the Loud boy breathed in for the last time. His body went limp, letting all of the air out of his chest. Lincoln's heartbeat and breathing had been keeping Lily asleep, so when all that stopped, she woke up rather disturbed.
"Buh-buh?" she cooed as she smacked his lifeless face. Lily, by doing this, was the one who let the rest of the girls know what had happened. Lola and Lana hugged their brother's body tighter than before and started bawling. Lori, with tears beginning to stream from her face, picked Lily up off of the bed who had just started to cry herself. Almost immediately, Lynn jumped on top of her brother and started crying her eyes out like she had just lost her chance to play in the big game. The other sisters collapsed on the bed, now showing off their waterworks. Watching their brother die right there in front of them had a bigger impact on them than they thought. It was painful. Too painful. They didn't want to move on without their brother. They didn't want to live without him, and now that he was gone, they realized that their lives wouldn't be the same without him. Moving on didn't seem like an option, but they had to. They had to do it for Lincoln. They had to do it for all of them.
Yes there will be a second part to it. I know this seems like the end of it, but it's not. Trust me! And I can guarantee the next chapter won't go the way you think it will. I honestly don't know how people will react to the next chapter, but I will spend a lot of time on it to make sure I've got it just the way I want it. Thanks again for reading!