Okay, okay, I know this is technically another rewrite of The Demon's Curse, but it's changed quite a bit, so I thought why not.
More Than One Way to Skin a Cat
We open on a Friday morning, the mid-spring sun shining down on the Loud house. Said house was bustling with activity, considering that everyone was getting ready for school.
In Lincoln's room, the white haired boy was grabbing his textbooks, clearly in a bit of a hurry. This hurry seemed to be forgotten when he noticed he viewers and decided to fill them in, though.
"I'm sure most of you know what day it is." Lincoln began, "Friday. The day where most, if not all, schoolwork is wrapped up. Then we can enjoy a relaxing weekend.".
Lincoln grinned a bit thinking about playing video games for hours, reading brand new comics in his undies, and watching a brand new episode of ARRGH!. But he slapped himself, trying to get back into focus to continue his monologue.
"But it may not be all it's cracked up to be, at least this weekend. Weird things have been going on, and we have no clue why. On Monday...".
FLASHBACK
Lincoln was in his room, reading his comics, when a dark shadow suddenly loomed by his bedroom window. Looking up with an eyebrow raised, he caught a fleeting glimpse of black and white eyes before it zoomed past. He shuddered in fear, but soon managed to continue reading.
END OF FLASHBACK
"Apparently I wasn't the only one who saw the shadow, but mom and dad brushed it off."
Lincoln sighed and murmured, "And when we tried to find it, the thing was gone!". He then straightened and continued:
"Then on Tuesday..."
FLASHBACK
Lincoln was walking towards the fridge, half asleep.
"Maybe there's some Cheesecake left..." He murmured.
His eyes widened when he heard a scratching sound from the basement. Frightened, he quickly ran back upstairs and dove into his bed.
END OF FLASHBACK
"That one was heard by everyone, so the next day, mom and dad went to investigate, only to find the window open! So on Wednesday…".
FLASHBACK
Police officers were stepping into their cars around the Loud residence, with the Chief shaking his head, clearly dumbfounded.
"Mr and Mrs Loud, we looked everywhere, but there was no sign of an intruder on premise.".
Rita scrunched her eyebrows.
"I don't understand, you said yourself that someone clearly broke in!" She protested.
"There was definitely evidence of that. But we couldn't find proof of them hiding anywhere, or stealing anything.".
He then let out a heavy sigh.
"Just… give us a call if you find them, alright?".
"Uuuuh, yeah, sure..." Lynn Sr. murmured as the officer walked away and into his car.
END OF FLASHBACK
The preteen then sighed once more, muttering, "And then on Thursday, there were the messages.".
FLASHBACK
Lincoln raised an eyebrow as he ripped off two notes from the fridge, reading them over.
"Soon, my darlings, soon..." He read, before scrunching his eyebrows
"What the heck?!".
Quickly reading the next one, he murmured, "A great injustice has been committed, one that shall soon be righted...".
The ashen haired child shuddered as he threw them into the trash, before finding a whole stockpile of notes just like his.
"Oh great." He muttered.
END OF FLASHBACK
"I don't know what's going on, but I know whatever it is, it definitely can't be good news." He finished. He then heard his mother calling for him in a slightly irritated tone, to which he quickly stuffed his textbooks into his backpack and ran out of his room.
LATER THAT DAY
Lincoln was walking home with Clyde after school, relaying what he told the audience to his best friend.
Said friend's eyes were wide with concern.
"Lincoln, have you found what been causing this yet?" Clyde asked, clearly worried.
"Well, no, but I have a bad feeling it's nothing good." His buddy replied. Clyde rubbed his chin in careful consideration for a moment, before he gasped, clearly thinking of something to explain this.
"What if it's a ghost!?".
Lincoln stared at his friend as if he was crazy.
"What?".
Clyde nodded, completely serious.
"Remember the last episode of ARGGH?".
Lincoln's eyes widened with disbelief.
"You mean the one with the poltergeist!?".
"Yu-huh! And the ghost slammed Hunter Spector into the wall, ready to possess him!" He nodded, getting increasingly excited.
"But then he whipped out his capture device, single handedly saving himself and and the entire household!" Lincoln finished, before both boys let out an elated squeal.
Clyde then cleared his throat, saying, "Sorry, I get excited thinking about ARGGH. But that was just a suggestion.".
The rest of the way home, until he and Clyde bid farewell at said friend's house, a certain ashen haired child thought over a brand new operation, titled plan 'Find-out-where-the-ghost-is-and-save-my-family-like-Hunter-Spector-and-think-of-a-shorter-name-for-this-operation.'.
As he walked through the doorway, he noticed his sisters all gathered by the T.V.
'Okay, so they're accounted for', He thought. He had a hunch that his sisters would think his plan was stupid and rat him out to their parents, who likely wouldn't be pleased at the idea of their only son sleeping with a possible intruder.
But he truly did want to save his family from the ghost that was haunting them. The strange events all lined up: The shadows, the scratching sounds, the open window with no one being found, and the notes.
'Now I just gotta find my ARGGH equipment...'
Unfortunately for his plans, he was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't realize his sisters saw him walk through the door.
"Hey bro, how'd school go?" Lynn asked, snapping her brother out of his thoughts.
"Oh, uh, it was fine!" He quickly said, a nervous smile plastered on his face. "Yep! Now I uh… need to go get a snack! Gotta fill up the old stomach! Heh...".
As he raced off, the sisters all looked at one another.
"He's hiding something, isn't he?" Lola said.
"Yep. Come on, girls." Lori replied.
Meanwhile, at the fridge, Lincoln was assembling his dinner, plopping some leftover meatloaf, a bit of Lynnsagna, and all the leftover Mac n' Cheese bites. He was going to be holed up in the basement, after all, and he figured a ghost wouldn't wait for dinner.
Just as he turned around though, he was greeted with the sight of his sisters, their eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"Alright, dude, what are you hiding?" Luna questioned.
"And I inquire to the fact that you're gathering a large quantity our father's leftovers as if it was dinnertime." Lisa added.
Lincoln grinned once more, saying, "I-it's nothing, I swear!".
"Oh puh-lease, Linky," Lola scoffed "We can see right through that baloney!".
He sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly frustrated, but realizing he had no way out of this.
"Fine, fine." He finally resigned himself, "I think that the weird things happening around here are from a ghost, and I'm gonna catch it just like Hunter Spector!".
He should have probably expected everyone but Lucy's mocking laughter, but dang, did it still hurt.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want," He muttered with disdain, "But can you guys think of anything else?".
Lucy walked up to him, staring with her hidden eyes into the depths of his soul.
"Lincoln, even if it's a ghost, it could be dangerous.". She then hugged him tightly.
"And I would never forgive myself if the ghost haunted you for the rest of your life, slowly driving you to insanity.".
He shuddered a bit at her morbid monologue, but he eventually marched past her anyways, grumbling something about showing everyone, shortly before the basement door was heard slamming shut and being locked. This snapped the others out of their laughing fit.
"Did he…?" Lola asked, gawking at the locked door.
"Yeah, I think he did." Lana finished for her twin, staring at said door with wide eyes.
It was then when the window pane fell out of it's frame, the glass shattering on the floor.
Meanwhile with Lincoln, he was stomping down the stairs, huffing indignantly.
"I'm not making this up! I swear I'll prove it to them! When I catch that thing, they'll... they'll have to believe me!".
As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he quickly realized that his equipment was up in the attic, further adding to his bad mood.
"Oh great!" He grumbled, "As if things couldn't get worse".
In cartoons, it's a common rule never to say 'it couldn't get worse'. Lincoln Loud sure would have loved to know this if he knew what would happen next.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the old television that was on his right suddenly started to jitter about, the screen glowing brighter and brighter until finally, Lincoln had to look away. Eventually, the glow died down, and the white haired boy looked back, only to be greeted with a smiling… well, it had the appearance of a cat that died, was brought to life, and given hands and feet.
Needless to say, Lincoln jumped back in surprise, a small yelp flying past his lips . The thing laughed heartily, slapping it's knee. It turned its purple eyes back towards Lincoln, who was now at least ten feet away, a nasty sneer plastered on its muzzle.
"Well, here's a surprise." It chuckled, it's voice like surprisingly smooth for its haggard appearance. "We have Lincoln Loud, only boy of the Loud family!".
"H-how did you know that?" He stuttered, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Oh, I know more than your name, kiddo." It said, a malicious glint in its eyes. "I also know your sisters' names, your parents, your shoe size, your favorite video games, the fact that your parents took my daughter when she was reborn and erased her memories of me as her dad, your favorite pet-".
"Wait, wait, wait, what was that last part?". Lincoln has gone from nearly pissing his pants in fright to confused, an eyebrow raised and his stance no longer cowering. The cat thing's eyes narrowed.
"Oh me oh my, do I hate repeating myself!" It announced dramatically, throwing an arm over its head and letting the wrist go limp.
"Such a rude choice, don't you think, Linky?". It turned to glance back at Lincoln, clearly seeing his tired face.
"...Look, I just want answers, alright!" Lincoln grumbled, all hints of a stutter gone, replaced by exasperation.
The thing tapped its chin for a small amount of time, humming with no indication of a hurry. Finally, it replied.
"Alright, I'll repeat myself, but only because I love hearing humans beg!".
"Hey! I wasn't-"
Lincoln was sadly cut off as it repeated slowly, "Your parents stole my child when it was reborn, and took her for themselves." It then growled.
"And you better believe I want that kid back!".
Lincoln stood, dumbfounded, as he tried to process what he just heard. His mouth worked up and down relentlessly, trying to come up with an answer that wouldn't get him killed.
Finally, he simply decided that a practical approach would be best.
"Look, mister-"
"Ahem! I have no gender! You will refer to me Static, or I'll rip your guts out a string them across the house!".
Lincoln shuddered with fear and started over.
"L-look, mi- uh… Static, we don't have your kid. Mom and dad would have told us if they did, and-and-".
"Excuse me!?" They demanded, "So you think simply because your parents haven't told you the truth, means that your supposedly youngest isn't my Maria!?"
Lincoln scrunched his eyebrows in thought, thinking over what ghost just said.
Finally, realization dawned on him, and he couldn't help but snicker.
"W-wait… you think…" He couldn't help but laugh, the idea was too ridiculous, "You think that Lily is your daughter!?"
"What's so funny…?" The beast growled, a dangerous edge to its voice.
"I'm sorry… but what part of that is supposed to make sense!?".
Static hissed as he continued to to laugh, dropping onto all fours and pacing.
For a while, the room was filled with laughter and angry huffing from Static, until eventually, their eyes widened, a grin stretching from ear to ear. They rubbed their hands together, chuckling with malice.
"Oh you'll be sorry, boy. I can promise you that…".
Finally, the white haired kid wiped a tear from his face, and looked up, only to see the ghost staring at him, looking like he won the lottery.
"Wait… why are you smiling like that…?". A sense of dread started to fill in his stomach.
"I found it.".
Lincoln was almost too afraid to ask, but he answered, "F-found what?".
"Your punishment, of course! For disrespecting me like on several occasions, and not believing my true statements, of course you need a punishment!".
He wanted to scream and run, he truly did, but his legs felt like jello, and his feet bricks. All he could do was stare as the demon's eyes changed from purple with gold pupils, to pure gold. Much like the T.V. screen, their eyes glowed brighter and brighter until finally, Lincoln had to shield his eyes was his hand.
It was then when the white haired child felt a force knock him down on his back. Lincoln lifted his head, eyebrows knitted together with confusion, before he felt discomforting pain enter his system.
It wasn't excruciating, not by a long shot, but it was enough to send his head back down to to the floor and groan slightly.
As the slight pain began to hurt more and more, Lincoln could notice what felt like a slight tingle on his left hand. He sat up and raised it up, wincing at how sore his muscles seemed, before giving his hand his undivided attention.
There was fur growing on on it.
The middle child felt as if someone has just dunked him into ice cold water, for he froze, his mind rejecting what it saw.
But before Lincoln could panic, he suddenly felt sharp pangs in his fingertips, almost as if he had gotten knives stuck in them, and someone was trying to pull them out. His face scrunched up as if he had eaten a sour lemon, and he noticed his fingernails seemed slightly loose.
Lincoln took a deep breath and shakily got to his feet, eyes still trained on his hand.
He felt padded hands push him back to the floor, causing him to fall on his knees.
Lincoln let out a startled yelp as his face met to floor, nose smashing into it. He rubbed it and winced, feeling how sore his hand was. He took another glance and noticed that the underside of it was puffing out and slightly turning a pale pink color. Lincoln's eyes flew wide open, and he desperately hoped this was a bad dream.
It was then when Lincoln's pain went from hurting a lot to excruciatingly painful.
It felt as if his body was being eaten alive as several baseball bats broke his bones repeatedly. Lincoln screeched like a banshee, desperately trying to grab onto the something, anything, but finding only bare ground beneath his claws.
Wait-
While Lincoln had been distracted, his didn't noticed his hands completing their metamorphosis, complete with claws on his fingertips, fur, and pads on the underside of his hand. Lincoln looked at it with a shocked expression, right before his attention was directed to his ears.
They were moving to the top of his head, becoming more and more triangular as time went on. As soon as they took the shape on giant triangles, he felt his ears pop, going completely deaf for a moment.
'WHAT THE HECK?!'
And then, his hearing returned twice as strong than before. He could easily hear the popping and creaking of his bones, and the straining of his muscles and they realigned. His could also hear his sneakers tearing as his feet slowly became more paw like than human.
It made him feel sick.
With his new heightened hearing, he could hear the ghost chuckling a bit, clearly entertained. In that moment, Lincoln decided to try and call upon his help, figuring he must have way to stop all the pain.
"St-Static!" Lincoln cried, "I'm sorry for laughing, j-just please make it stooop!".
He heard a snort, before the feline demon entered his view. Lincoln jumped back a bit, ears pinned against his head.
"Oh, but I'm enjoying the show! Besides, I'm afraid you'll have to let me kill your parents in return.".
"K-KILL!?" He howled, eyes widened and narrowed the same instant, his lips drawing in a snarl to reveal pointed teeth. "No way! I'm not letting you near them!".
"Well, then I suppose you can suffer alone. Audue".
As the cat ghost walked away, Lincoln was hit by a fresh wave of pain, earning more screams from the poor boy. As well as that, from what he could tell at least, the fur was finished, covering almost his entire body. This sent wave after wave of heat, causing the middle child to pant. He noticed that his tongue felt rough against the top of his mouth, almost like sandpaper.
Then all the pain seemed to be building up into the small of his back, and strangely enough, and lump seemed to be growing there. Lincoln screwed his eyes shut.
'Please let this be a bad dream!'
Deep down though, he knew it wasn't. The pain was too great to be all in his head.
It was then when whiskers grew out of his face, that Lincoln put two and two together.
The only animal he knew had whiskers was a cat.
The ghost looked somewhat like a cat.
By this point, Lincoln's mind went into overdrive, and he screeched, "I DON'T WANNA BE A CAT, I DON'T WANNA BE A CAT, I DON'T WANNA BE A CAT, I DON'T WANNA BE A CAT!".
"Well, suck it up, buttercup!".
Lincoln growled at Static's comment, but was soon faced with the lump growing longer and longer, and the pain there becoming more and more intense. He slammed his fist into the ground repeatedly, as if he was calling uncle on Lynn during a wrestling match.
The lump ended up hitting the material of his jeans, and even though it couldn't go farther, it still tried to grow, causing major pain for Lincoln.
The agony got so excruciatingly awful, Lincoln lifted his hand, and tried to rip a hole in his jeans. Surprisingly, it worked, and he felt a wide enough tear in his pants, and slight relief as his tail bone continued to grow into a long tail.
Lincoln let out a breath of relief as there was a momentary pause between all the sensory over stimulation, pain, and tingling. Finally, he thought it was done.
He looked over at the ghost, but they had a worried look on their face, staring at the ever brightening T.V screen with shock.
"No no no no, please don't suck me in now! Plea- AUGH!".
The ghost's form disintegrated, the prices flying back into the screen, before it started to play static.
Lincoln couldn't help but grin.
"Good riddance." He chuckled.
And then his face pushed outwards into a short muzzle, his nose flattening and turning triangular. This was by far the worst part, as it felt like someone was trying to pull his skull outwards while simultaneously slashing it. Lincoln's throat however, was too sore to actually scream. Instead, he grit his teeth and groaned, waiting for it to be over.
When it was finally over, he let out a breath of relief, rubbing his head slightly as a strange fuzziness seemed to be building.
And then he sucked that breath right back in when he noticed his sisters coming to the bottom on of the staircase.
Gasps and sharp inhales sounded out, although it sounded almost as if his sisters were underwater. He then noticed the corners of his vision were getting darker, and the rest become blurry.
'Maybe I am underwater. Honestly, that wouldn't be too surprising by now...' Lincoln silently joked to himself. He screwed his eyes shut as they began to ache intensely.
Lincoln groaned and shook his head, trying to ward off unconsciousness. He looked up and vaguely saw his sisters' panicking frozen, shortly before blacking out.