Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Broken Mirror

Chapter one: Alone

Lincoln Loud could not believe it. His own family is refusing to allow him back into the house on the basis that they believe him to be bad luck. Granted, this was partly Lincoln's own doing; before all of the messy business of his family believing him to be bad luck started, Lincoln's older sister Lynn threatened him with a baseball bat into attending a game she was playing. When Lynn's team just so happened to have lost that game, Lynn automatically declared Lincoln to be bad luck, on the basis that it was the first game that Lincoln ever came to, and thereafter barred Lincoln from ever coming to any of her games ever again. Lynn soon spread her belief of the sole Loud boy being bad luck to the rest of the Loud clan, which made them bar Lincoln from coming to any of their events as well.

At first, Lincoln rolled with it, even embraced it a little bit, because he was finally getting what Lynn essentially denied him that fateful morning; alone time. But then Lincoln started to regret this when the family excluded him from going to a movie with them. And things only started go down from there; they boarded up his room to keep him from sleeping in the house which forced him into the backyard, refused to believe his confession on the basis that good things just so happened to have occurred to them while Lincoln was absent, and now they were forcing him to back away from the house, with the curtains closing at the end of a conversation.

"Ugh!" the sole Loud boy swore to himself in a frustrated tone, "Lynn and her superstitions! As long as she thinks I'm bad luck, I'm doomed. I have to find a way to prove her wrong."

As Lincoln shook some acorns out of his pants, he began to think about how he could go about proving his sporty older sister wrong about him. The sole Loud boy sincerely, desperately wanted to be taken back in by his family, and was at this point willing to do just about anything he could think of if he believed it would give him even the barest chance of once again being a member of his family. However, around the time the acorns he shook out of his pants gave him an idea on how he could go about trying to win back his family's support, Lincoln was suddenly struck by a thought.

"Why should I even try to get back into my family?" Lincoln thought sadly.

His own family just kicked him out of the house, without so much as a blip of remorse, all because he wanted some time to himself. Was it really that much of a sin for Lincoln to want to be alone for a few hours? To rest and recharge doing the things that he wanted to do after having to go to so many of his sisters' events? If the events starting on the day of that fateful game of Lynn's was anything to go by, then yes, it was a sin for Lincoln to want to be by himself for a few hours. And now the sole Loud boy's family was forcing him to pay for that sin of his by all but saying that he was no longer a member of the family. Dejectedly, Lincoln turned around and began to walk away from the place that he had once called home, a place that the sole Loud boy felt that he could never return to again.

"Well fine," Lincoln thought bitterly as he continued to walk, exiting the neighborhood that he lived in and eventually making his way into the city proper of Royal Woods, "If my family thinks that they're better off without me, then I'll just save them any further trouble from here on out. I guess that I'm getting my wish for some alone time…" Turning around, Lincoln saw that he had made his way to the outskirts of Royal Woods; the next exit would take him out of the city in which he was born, and into whatever the future had in store for him now. Turning back around, Lincoln looked down at the ground, a sad look on his eleven-year-old face, before he continued to make his way out into the unknown.

"…For the rest of my life," was the last thing Lincoln thought while he still lived in the city he was born and raised in.

Lincoln had no idea how much distance he had walked since he decided to abandon his old life. He had walked throughout the night, and by the time it was morning, the boy without a family was seriously aching, not to mention being dead tired from having walked all night. As soon as he found a place he felt he could rest at, a burger joint of some kind, Lincoln found an unoccupied booth that was partly obscured from the view of the front counter, sat down, and promptly fell asleep. He slept for about forty-five minutes until he was gently shaken awake by one of the employees of the burger joint, a girl that Lincoln estimated to be about the same age as Lori, one of his ex-sisters. In fact, Lincoln felt that this girl looked a lot like Lori back when Lori went through her quote unquote 'awkward phase'.

"Excuse me, but are you okay, kid?" the older girl asked in a concerned tone.

Stifling a yawn, the boy without a family said, "I'm just tired. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"Are you here alone?" the older girl asked, her tone unchanging, "Where are your parents?"

"Parents?" Lincoln replied with more than a hint of bitterness seeping into his tone, "What parents? I don't have parents. Or any family for that matter."

The response from the boy without a family shocked the older girl. "Oh geez, I'm really sorry about that, kid," the older girl replied. Looking around a bit at first, the older girl then turned back to face Lincoln and said, "You want I should get something made up for you? You don't have to pay for it." Lincoln was surprised by the older girl's offer; it was true that Lincoln hadn't have anything to eat since before his failed confession to his family, and he did walk who knows how far from the place that he used to call home. Lincoln was lucky (ha!) enough to have some money on hand, but the boy without a family knew that due to the life that he was now being forced to live, what little money he had on hand would soon dry up. If this older girl was offering to get him something to eat, then who was Lincoln to say no?

Weakly getting up from his seat, Lincoln said to the older girl, "Can I at least take a look at the menu first?" Smiling, the older girl led Lincoln over to the front counter, and waited while the boy without a family placed his order. Not wanting to be too greedy, Lincoln got a relatively small meal consisting of a chicken sandwich (without mayo), a serving of fries, and a fountain drink. Lincoln sprang for the largest size of the fountain drink, and relied on the free refills a lot until he felt that he got his fill. Thanking the girl for her generosity while silently hoping that she won't get in trouble for getting him a free meal, Lincoln took his leave from the place before anyone who would think to contact the police or CPS or anyone else along those lines would do so under the belief that Lincoln was actually an orphan, rather than just a runaway.

…But then again, for all Lincoln cared at this point, he might as well be an orphan.

For his new life in…whatever the name of this city he came to was, Lincoln knew that he was going to have to figure out how to live. The boy without a family figured that he could not reasonably count on reliably getting free meals whenever it was time for breakfast or lunch or dinner. Lincoln knew that he was going to have to make his way on his own. The first thing he would have to do was get some more clothes; having decided to run away due to a spur-of-the-moment idea, coupled with the fact that he couldn't get back into his room back at the house where he once lived even if he tried, the only clothes that Lincoln had on hand were the clothes that he was wearing, which were undoubtedly not perfectly clean by now. Lincoln managed to get that problem squared away by visiting a church where, once he explained that he essentially had no one, he was given some clothes from the clothes donation bin, along with a backpack and a Ziploc bag full of personal care and hygiene products.

With three XXL t-shirts (admittedly somewhat big for a boy his size), two pairs of pants that were a few inches too big, an unopened pack of socks, an unopened pack of boy's underwear and a belt (thank goodness for that, otherwise he'd be pulling his pants up all day) in his new backpack, Lincoln made his way to someplace with a restroom. Going into one of the stalls, Lincoln changed into some of his new clothes, then exited when he was done. After that, the boy without a family proceeded to find a more private place to rest. Finding the local public library, Lincoln found a secluded area behind some bookshelves. Sitting down at the table there, Lincoln relaxed and soon fell asleep, his new backpack serving as a pillow.

Once he rested enough, Lincoln took his leave from the public library and began to look around town. Over the next hour Lincoln spent looking around the city that was going to be his new home, Lincoln took observational notes of where certain places were located. Lincoln also made sure to pick up any loose change that he found lying on the ground; knowing that money was going to be hard for him to come by, Lincoln had to take what he could get, when he could get it. By sometime mid to late afternoon, Lincoln wandered on by a bodega store that was in the city. Lincoln was lucky enough to scrounge up roughly a dollar and a half in change in the hour he had spent walking around, plus there was still the money that he had on hand when he ran away if it came down to it, so Lincoln figured that he could get something cheap to eat.

Entering the bodega store, Lincoln was greeted by an older Hispanic man that was behind the store's counter; Lincoln assumed that this man was the one who ran, possibly even owned, the place. "Hello there, young man," the Hispanic man greeted in a friendly tone, "What brings you on by?"

"I don't suppose there's any candy here, is there?" Lincoln asked as he proceeded to fish out some of his hard-gathered change, "Or maybe one of those wrapped cinnamon rolls?"

"That aisle right there will be what you'd want to browse," the Hispanic man replied as he pointed the way, "All I ask is that you leave your bag at the front of the store by the counter." Lincoln nodded once in thanks before he took his backpack off and leaned it against the one end of the counter before going to browse the candy and snack cake aisle of the bodega store. Once he found something within the budget presented by his loose change that he gathered, Lincoln went to the front of the store to pay for his snack. The older Hispanic man was even kind enough to knock the price of the snack Lincoln was buying, a wrapped cinnamon roll, down to one whole dollar, instead of a dollar and some odd amount of change.

"Thanks, mister…" Lincoln began, but trailed off due to not knowing the man's name.

Chuckling in good humor, the older Hispanic man replied, "The name's Hector Casagrande." With a mildly amused smile, Hector asked, "And what's your name?"

"Lincoln," the boy without a family replied.

"Lincoln…what?" Hector asked, pressing for more info.

Shaking his head gently in the negative, Lincoln replied, "Just Lincoln."

"You don't have a last name, young man?" Hector asked, looking mildly shocked.

With another gentle head shake in the negative, Lincoln said, "No. I don't have any name except my first name." After the boy without a family gave his response, Hector gave him a quick head-to-toe look. The older Hispanic man saw the signs for what they were; clearly oversized clothes that must have been obtained from the clothes donation at the local church, a relatively new looking plastic backpack with the images of popular cartoon characters, the fact that this boy had paid for his snack with loose change that must have been gathered up off of the ground due to how dirty it looked…Hector first thought that Lincoln and his family wasn't in the best financial situation in the world, but with what Lincoln had just said, the older Hispanic man felt as if his old heart was ripped out and grounded under someone's heel.

"You…you want I should call someone who can help?" Hector asked the boy without a family. In response, Lincoln held up his hand in a gesture to decline while he shook his head.

"I'll be fine," Lincoln replied, a hint of sadness in his tone, "I have been ever since I first became alone." Slipping his backpack on, Lincoln continued, "I don't see any reason why that should be changing anytime soon."

The look of confliction was clear on Hector's face. This Lincoln boy couldn't be any older than his granddaughter who lived with her mother and older brother in some city in the next state over, and yet he was insisting that he would be fine more or less living on the streets. There was also the issue with that group of local youths who have taken to trying to make this city their personal stomping grounds; Hector was afraid that this poor boy would fall in with that group, or worse yet, cross their path in the wrong manner, and pay the ultimate price for it. Hector wanted to do something to help Lincoln, but he didn't want to risk pushing the boy without a family into any areas that might be uncomfortable for him. But the older Hispanic man was not going let this boy go without helping him in at least some manner.

"You…at least want to get something else from the store?" Hector offered, then quickly added, "No more than ten dollars' worth, though." Once again, Lincoln was being presented with something free to eat. It made him feel guilty that he was eating mainly due to the generosity of others, but given that he had just started out in this new life of his, Lincoln had to take what he could get. Determined to find someway to start earning some money as soon as he was able, Lincoln accepted Hector's offer. The boy without a family collected a spread that was worth exactly nine dollars and forty-seven cents; this spread consisted of a two-liter bottle of his favorite soda, a few packs of s'mores-flavored toaster treats, two more wrapped cinnamon rolls, and a snack-sized bag of honey mustard-and-onion flavored pretzel bits.

"…Huh, well I'll be," Hector said as he looked at what Lincoln gathered.

A concerned look on his face, Lincoln asked, "Is this too much?"

"No, it's under ten dollars," Hector replied as he assured the boy without a family, "It's just that…that my granddaughter has a similar taste in snacks as you."

A mildly surprised look on his face, Lincoln replied, "Really?"

Nodding once in the affirmative, Hector said, "She likes this brand of root beer, the s'mores flavored toaster treats is her favorite flavor, and she also has a liking for cinnamon rolls. Only the pretzel bits are off, although they're a personal favorite of mine." Chuckling to himself, Hector continued, "Why, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were a member of my family, what with how your tastes match up so well to those of me and my granddaughter.

With a smile that carried a hint of sadness, Lincoln replied, "That does sound kind of nice." After thanking Hector once again, Lincoln took his leave from the bodega store.

Making his way into the city proper, the boy without a family found a local grocery store. Walking to behind the store, Lincoln found someplace private so he could sit down and have a makeshift meal consisting of the snacks and soda he got from the bodega store. When he was done eating, Lincoln got up and eventually made his way over to a local park. Making his way into the inside of one of the playsets located on park property, Lincoln settled down and, with the exhaustion of his journey to this city and the first day of his new life catching up to him, Lincoln did what any runaway child would do in his situation.

He fell asleep.

END, BROKEN MIRROR CHAPTER ONE

Author's notes:

This is the first Loud House story that I put up here. I know the trope of 'No Such Luck' response fics has pretty much been beaten into the ground at this point, but I'm honestly doing this story as something of an exercise. I actually have two other Loud House stories that I've been working, one being a collection of one-shots and the other a twenty-seven-chapter multi-arc story (that's actually already finished). I'm getting this story up first because I want to gauge how well I can write for a show that isn't an anime.

Oh, and spoiler alert; you're going to start to see why this story has such a high rating starting in the next chapter.