A/N: A side project I decided to put up while working on The Marvelous Eleven. Won't be long, probably going to be about 3 to 5 chapters, if that. I hope you enjoy. As usual I own nothing, everything belongs to their respective owners.
Chapter 1
In the cold dead of night Lincoln Loud tried diligently to rest, but the bumpy, cold, and wet ground of early spring worked just as diligently to prevent him from dozing off. The white haired boy was tired not just physically, but mentally and figuratively too. All he wanted was a little time to himself. Some me time. Granted perhaps spreading a rumor amongst his family that he was bad luck in order to get out of going to one of his sisters' activities wasn't such a hot idea. But when you're in a family as big as his, and with parents who take the side of the girls more often than their only son, then you can see why he thought the idea was good in the first place.
And look where that idea got him: outside, in his pajamas, and locked out of the house. To say that his family had gone overboard with their superstitions was an understatement. Granted he could see his mother watching him from behind the blinds in order to make sure he was alright - meaning that his parents knew it was all a ruse and turned it on him to teach him a lesson. But that didn't excuse boarding up his room, nor the treatment he had been getting from his sisters'. Especially since they treated him similarly to this on a weekly basis, and for a majority of his life too.
But the boy continued in his endeavor to try and sleep, even if mother nature tried her damndest to make sure he didn't, and even after his mother had gone off to bed. No doubt to rouse her husband from slumber to take over watching him. But that mattered little to the only boy amongst ten girls as the sandman constantly teased the sands of slumber over his face. The boy yawned loudly as the thralls of sleep continued to try and seduce him. But the earth refused to let the seduction succeed as it razed Lincoln's back.
The boy's eyes closed on several occasions, only to snap open when the feeling of the uncomfortable surface of the planet registered in his brain not a moment after. Upon the eleventh time this happened the eleven year old saw something very, very, very strange. Standing before the sleep deprived child was a tall man wearing a black dress suit, pants and shoes, along with a white dress shirt, tie and socks. And atop his hairless head was a top hat signifying that he was either someone of high class, or with class. But the strangest things about the man were his skin, mouth, and eyes.
Instead of the fair, colorful, and healthy skin one would associate with someone of this attire, the man's skin was pitch black, darker than night, deeper than Lucy's hair, and yet somehow distinguishable from the suit the man wore. His eyes and mouth on the other hand were a stark contrast with the rest of his being. Where his eyes should be were two flawless, bright, and full white circles, with the mouth not being barely any different from the two peepholes. The man looked unnatural, like something that shouldn't be here, and his smile not only screamed that he had a ulterior motive but that he wanted to help.
But compared to the company he had endured recently, it was a welcome change. It was at least someone new and not someone he knew for his whole life. Sure that may be a bit too harsh and over exaggerative, but consider his current position. Wouldn't you want a change in company?
"Hello Lincoln." Said the man.
Lincoln yawned before answering. "Hello mysterious dark man in my backyard and personal space." The man chuckled. "What brings you here?"
"Oh nothing," he said, "I was just passing through and saw you outside, on the cold uncomfortable ground, and not inside in your room." He tilted his head to look at the boy directly in the eyes. "Mind telling me why?"
Despite his natural instincts yelling at him that he shouldn't do that the boy did so anyway. "My family kicked me out of the house, and locked me out, because they think I'm bad luck."
"I don't think that's good parenting." The man said with a chuckle.
"You're telling me." Lincoln said as he adjusted his body to try and find a decent sleeping position. After a moment of trying he just laid back down on his back.
"You can sneak back in through your window can't you?" The man asked.
"No, they locked that to," Lincoln said in annoyance, "and how did you know my room had a window?"
"Common sense boy, common sense."
"Something my family lacks right now."
"Indeed." The man agreed.
Silence enveloped the two as they struck a wall in the cavern of conversation. After a few minutes of silence, and finding nothing better to do other than look at the stars, the man asked Lincoln something.
"Would you like to make a deal with me, Lincoln?" The boy looked at the man in confusion. "Nothing illegal, bloody, or malicious if that's what you're wondering."
"But what could either of us offer the other?" Lincoln asked, his confusion not quelled at all. "If anything it would be pointless."
The man chuckled and smiled wider. "Surely boy you would've seen that I am not of your world, or even your universe."
The boy scrunched his face in thought before his jaw dropped in realization after years worth of comic knowledge, and that dream he had, came down on him. "You mean?"
"Yes Lincoln." The man said as he moved to stand in front of the boy, bowed, and removed his top hat mid bow. "I'm the Shadow Man, a being from another universe. Though your people call me the Hat Man." He stood back up and placed his hat back on his head. "And I have a deal you can't refuse."
As he stared at the Shadow Man is shock the boy could only nod in acknowledgement.
The man from another world chuckled at the child's shell shocked expression and said. "The deal is simple, Lincoln. In return for making sure that you never feel any pain ever again, I want you to help me in something I've been working on. Simple right?"
The white haired child shook his head to snap himself out of his stupor, and said. "Wait, what do you mean by 'never feel any pain ever again'? And what if what you're working on involves taking over the world, or worse, destroying it?"
"Now, now, child I did say that the deal wasn't illegal, bloody, or malicious now didn't I?" Shadow Man said as he held his hands up in reassurance. "And besides, what I mean by 'never feel any pain ever again' is that your family will never mistreat you ever again."
Lincoln looked at the interdimensional entity with distrust as he thought over his words. He did say that it wasn't illegal, meaning that his family wouldn't be going to prison or foster care, and world domination definitely fell into that category. As did destruction, but that went without saying. He also said that the deal wasn't bloody, meaning he wouldn't kill his family or cause them to die by manipulation. And all of this fell under malicious so it wasn't that either. But, despite the go over, the boy wasn't convinced.
Seeing that Lincoln was still skeptical the Shadow Man smiled. "Allow me to alleviate your skepticism with a song." He clapped his hands, causing New Orleans style music to play from nowhere and miraculously not waking anyone up.
"Yeah," he went around Lincoln, pulled him up to his feet, and twirled him around to face him. "Nice to meetcha."
He coiled around Lincoln. "I'm the Shadow Man, the shadow man, I move in the shadows with a shadowy plan."
He flipped the boy into the air before elongating himself, and allowing Lincoln to land on him in a makeshift hammock. "I live somewhere between night and day, I'm the Shadow Man. See?"
He maneuvered to face Lincoln. "Wherever you go, I'm right behind you." He boops Lincoln on the nose. "You might not see me, but, I'm gonna find you. To shadow you," he straightens himself causing Lincoln to fall, "that's the plan. Call me the Shadow Man."
He catches Lincoln right before he hits the ground, sets him down before twirling him, and struts around him after he stops and regains his balance. "I'm a sharp dressed cat, cool as can be. Here in your reality there ain't no one like me."
He bends over Lincoln's shoulder to face him. "You're looking for a thrill, I'm the shadowy one." He coils around Lincoln before tossing him into the air again, and pumps his arms in the air. "Your one stop shop for some shadowy fun!"
He produces a cane from nowhere, and catches Lincoln on it perfectly and without any harm done. "I'm the king of easy street," he sways the cane a bit, "I'm the man you've got to meet."
He slants the cane toward the ground, causing Lincoln to roll onto the ground. As the boy sat up to look at him he raised his arms theatrically. "I've been here since time began, call me the Shadow Man."
The Shadow Man stopped singing as jazz music broke into the song, and he began slickly and smoothly dancing to it. Before long he starts singing again. "I'm a sharp dressed cat," he pops his lapels, "cool as can be. Here in your reality there ain't no one like me." He gestures to himself.
Lincoln was swiftly lifted from the ground and juggled between the entity's knees. "You're looking for a thrill, I'm the shadowy one." He proceeds to dance with Lincoln in a similar manner to when the jazz instrumental kicked in. "You're one stop shop for some shadowy fun!"
He sets Lincoln down. "Yeah, I'm the king of easy street! Yeah, I'm the man you've got to meet!" He slickly dances and coils around Lincoln.
"I've been here since time began." He stops right in front of Lincoln, looking as if he never moved in the first place, bowed to the boy with his hat removed. Facing the boy with an eerie smile. "Call me the Shadow Man."
The Shadow Man chuckled as Lincoln recovered from the experience he just went through, stood back up straight, and placed his hat back onto his head. The music faded out as Lincoln recovered.
"W-w-wow," he said, "that was, wow."
Shadow Man chuckled. "Well boy, do we have a deal?" He stuck out his hand for Lincoln to shake. The boy looked at the appendage in contemplation for a few seconds, and turned to the Loud house with a contemplative look for a brief moment.
He turned back to the Shadow Man with an unsure expression.
"I don't know," he said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"Don't tell me that you're fine with everything they've done." Shadow Man said in exasperation. "When was the last time your sisters have done anything for you that wasn't for a ulterior motive, or pity, or just to clear their conscious? When was the last time they ever got in trouble for their actions? When was the last time you didn't get in trouble for what they did, or for something you didn't even do?"
As the Shadow Man asked these questions Lincoln's expression slowly changed from uncertainty to contemplation, and from contemplation to panic.
"When was the last time your parents didn't take their side of the argument, regardless if they had evidence against you or not?" The Shadow Man was nearly shouting at this point.
Lincoln's face soon turned to realization.
"When was the last time that you were treated like their brother and son, and not their servant, bus boy, or designated monkey?" The Shadow Man said solemnly.
Lincoln looked completely destroyed. He tried to remember something that would answer the Shadow Man's questions. Something that would prove he wasn't the family monkey. Something that would prove that he was a member of the family, and not something for them to use at their discretion. And what did he get?
Lori's bossiness, insults, lording of her age, and using him as an ottoman.
Leni using him as a model.
Luna, his guardian, avoiding him because of some superstition.
Luan's constant pranks, puns, and prank-apocalypses.
Lynn's roughhousing, and inane BS that started this whole thing.
Lana's pets getting into his bed, and constant mud tracking.
Lola's constant and insipid blackmailing, tattle taling, and brattiness.
And Lisa's experiments. Every. Last. One. Of. Them.
He remembered every taunt, every insult, every last thing that could justify taking this deal, and that's not even mentioning his parents. But when he did think of his parents he made his decision. He took a firm hold of the Shadow Man's hand and shook it just as firmly to ensure that this was no mistake on his part.
And then he knew no more.
A/N: The song used is a modified version of Shadow Man - Dr. Facilier, from the Princess and the Frog. No the Shadow Man isn't Facilier, but he does have his voice. Please read and review to let me know what you thought.