So, after the recent episode 'L is for Love' I was struck with inspiration for a story that kept me awake until 1 a.m. in the morning. After work I powered my way through this so that I could post is ASAP. I was behind with my next chapter of Avoiding Estrangement anyway so I figured, why not postpone it a little longer (It will be up later this week) and strike while the iron is hot with this new idea? As always honest reviews and constructive criticism is appreciated.

Beating the Blues part 1)

Disclaimer: I don't own The Loud House and make no money from this story.

The sound of the door slamming caught the attention of the ten siblings inside the living room of the Loud residence. All nine girls and the one boy turned their attention from the t.v. to the front door, seeing the third oldest child in their family. Luna, with tears streaming down her face, bolted up the stairs, softly crying the entire way. She was out of sight before any of her sisters or brother could even stand up, and then the sound of another door being slammed sounded from the second floor. After which, all of the ten other children rushed up the stairs, Lori attempting to cut off the other nine.

"Hold it!" She ordered, quickly stopping her younger siblings in their tracks. "I know that we're all wondering what's going on, but Luna looked very upset. So instead of just barging into her room all at once, I think it would be better to just have Luan go in and talk to her. The rest of us will wait in the hall. Got it?"

They all nodded in agreement and then proceeded the rest of the way in a slower, more organized manner. Luan stepped up to the door to her and Luna's room and gently knocked. There was no response, at least not one that she could hear, so she tried again and then slowly opened the door. She heard the soft sound of her older sister crying and stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

Once the door was closed, the others began to whisper among themselves. Earlier that day, Luna had been in high spirits. She had told Leni and Lori at school about how she had placed her love letter into the locker of her crush, an attractive blonde girl named Sam. And from what they had heard, it had seemed like things were going well for the short haired brunette. But clearly, something had happened since then.

"I don't get it." Lori said. "She said that Sam was smiling when she read the letter. What in the world could have gone wrong after that?"

"Maybe Sam already has someone." Leni said. "And she had to let Luna down."

"Hmm, no I don't think that's it. Luna would've known if Sam was in a relationship since they've hung out at lunch. Plus, again, she was smiling when she read Luna's letter. There has to be something else. I remember when I saw her after school she seemed like she was nervous about something. And she said that she would be home later because she had to be somewhere."

Lola gasped, "She must've gone to meet with Sam!"

"But why would she be so upset after that? You don't think that she got rejected do you?"

"Why would she get rejected?" Lynn asked. "She knew that Sam is single and Luna's awesome! What reason could she have to say 'no'?"

"Maybe she isn't interested in other girls." Lori thought aloud. "OR, it could be something more serious. What if Sam's parents are against same-gender relationships? Sam would have to say 'no' because her parents would never approve!"

"Oh. Em. Gosh!" Leni gasped. "Then they should totes be dating! It would be forbidden love! Just like in Rome-oh and Julie- Tee, by that really old writer guy!"

Lisa pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's Romeo & Juliet, Leni. By William Shakespeare. And I should certainly hope that Luna's love wouldn't turn out similar to that tragedy, considering that both the star crossed lovers die at the end."

Leni gasped in shock. "Oh no! Guys, we have to warn Luna!"

"No, Leni, that only happened in the story. It's not going to happen to Luna." Lori said, correcting her sister for what felt like the millionth time.

"So, Luna's going to be okay?"

The door to Luna and Luan's room suddenly opened, drawing their attention. Luan stepped out and shut the door behind her, barely able to stop herself from slamming it. None of her siblings could recall ever seeing the normally good humored girl so angry. Even Lori felt a little intimidated by the glowering brunette.

"Sorry Leni, but I don't think Luna is going to be okay. Not anytime soon, that is. Not after the crap she just had to go through."

"Luan! Watch your language around Lily!" Lori scolded. "What's going on? What did Luna tell you?"

"She told me about how she found a reply from Sam in her locker at the end of the school day today. She said she was really nervous about reading it and she went for a walk around the school a couple times before she finally read it. And it wasn't what she was hoping for. Here, take a look for yourself."

Luan handed Lori a sheet of paper that had been crumpled by her clenched fist. As Lori smoothed it out, she saw tear stains on it. Obviously Luna's. Some of the ink was a little blurry, but she could still make out the writing easily enough.

"So let's see what this says.

'To L. Loud,

I can't believe you actually wrote me a sappy love letter like that! It's completely laughable that you think for even one second that I'd show even a tiny amount of interest in you! Even if I was interested in other girls, I could do way better than you. You're way too butch. Some people might even think you're just a gender-confused boy who dresses in drag. Do yourself a favor and just go crawl into a hole and stay there!

Never to be yours,

Sam.' "

All of the gathered Louds, aside of Luan, gaped in pure shock as Lori finished reading. They all immediately began to look angry once the shock subsided, Lori's face screwing up into a fierce scowl, her face flushed hot red.

"THAT...THAT...THAT LITTLE WITCH!" She shrieked. "Who the heck does she think she is, writing something so horrible to my baby sister?! She will regret this! Luan!"

"Yeah?"

"I want you to break out the prank arsenal that you save for the first of April. I want you to give that heartless little you-know-what the worst day of her life!"

"Oh, trust me...I'll stay up all night if I have to." Luan said with a sinister chuckle. "I'll pummel her with as many pies as I can. So she can have her just desserts."

In an unusual turn of events, Luan's sisters and brother didn't groan in unison at her pun. Instead they all began to eagerly offer to help the Queen of Pranks. The ten huddled together and began to discuss their plans. However their planning was soon interrupted as their only missing sibling swung open her bedroom door.

"Y'know, I can hear you guys." she said, wiping some of the tears from her eyes. "And even though I appreciate that you're only trying to help me out, I don't want you to get involved. Just don't, okay? Let it be."

"But..." all ten of her siblings began.

"NO! I mean it! Just let me get through this on my own! I...I have to or I might not be able to move on. And besides, all you would be doing is giving Sam a reason to keep hassling me. It's bad enough knowing that I'll have to see her at school tomorrow."

"Luna, trust us." Lori said. "When we're done with her she'll think twice before saying or doing anything to you."

"Lori, please." Luna whimpered. "Please don't. I'm begging you. All of you."

Lori sighed and held out her arms towards Luna. The upset girl stepped over and leaned into the hug, allowing her tears to start flowing again as she found comfort in her older sister's embrace. She felt Lori start rubbing her back and she just let go. Burying her face into Lori's shoulder, she let all the pain she had been feeling flow freely out of her tear ducts. By the time she was done, all of her siblings had lost their desire for revenge. They looked at their sister with sympathy and joined Lori in comforting her with a group hug.

"Thanks dudes." Luna said as the hug came to an end, her tears having stopped. "I needed that, more than you could know."

"Well if you need another, just let us know." Lori said. "Same if you just want to talk with anyone. We'll make time for you, okay?"

"You got it, sis." Luna said. "But for now, is it cool if I just have some space? I want to just try and figure out what's next for me."

"Take as much time as you need. We'll be here if you need us." Lori said in an assuring tone.

"Yeah, and don't worry about our room." Luan said. "I'll just hang out downstairs until it's time for bed."

"Thanks Lu. I appreciate that. But don't stay out on my account. If you want to pop in and grab your stuff, just go ahead."

"Okay, but only if I really have to. And if I do, I promise to be quick about it."

Luna smiled a little and thanked her again before heading back into her room. She shut the door behind her and the rest of the Loud children began to head back downstairs. But they soon heard a noise emanating from within the room of the musician. It was violin music, and it carried a sadness within its notes. The Louds exchanged glances as they heard their sibling convey her emotions with each motion of the bow across the strings of the instrument. Tears came to their eyes, the music allowing them to empathize with their sister's emotions. A couple of them, like Lori and Luan, allowed their thoughts to return to getting back at the one who was responsible for Luna's misery, but they pushed those thoughts aside and honored the request Luna had made instead. Luckily they were all able to find ways to preoccupy themselves once they had gotten back downstairs, allowing their depressed sister the peace and solitude she desired.

-Loud House-

Later that day, the Loud family had all gathered for dinner as per usual. However, one seat remained empty as they all sat at the table for the meal. Mr. and Mrs. Loud easily noticed this and addressed their other children about the matter.

"Hey, where's Luna? She knows it's time to eat, right?" Queried Lynn Sr.

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen her at all since we got home." Rita said. "Is she not feeling well?"

"Not exactly." Lori said in response. "There's something that you two should know. And just to give you a heads up, you aren't going to like it."

Lori excused herself from the table and retrieved the rejection letter that was the cause of Luna's woes. She had been tempted to rip the stupid thing to shreds. So very, very tempted to destroy the accursed paper with its foul, not to mention completely wrong, message written so spitefully towards her beloved sister. But she had restrained herself and instead set it aside. If anyone would revel in its destruction, then that pleasure was to be Luna's alone. But for now, it served as a visual aid as Lori told her mother and father of what had occurred that day. And it left them as peeved as all of their present children had been only mere hours earlier.

"The nerve of that horrible girl!" Rita spat as she finished reading the letter. "What is her last name? I want to see if she's one of Dr. Finestein's patients."

"What? Why?" Lori asked.

"Let's just say that if she is, she may find her next tooth cleaning to be particularly unpleasant. She deserves nothing less for daring to crush my precious baby girl's feelings like this!"

"Go mom!" Lola and Lana cheered in unison.

"No, that's not happening." Lynn Sr. said. "As much as I dislike knowing that any of our kids have been hurt, either physically or emotionally, I can't support that idea. Honey, you can't honestly want to jeopardize your career to get back at some shallow high school girl, do you?"

Rita sighed. "No, I wouldn't. Even though she has it coming."

"Rita, sweetheart, please."

"I know, I'm sorry Lynn. I just can't believe how cruel she was. A simple 'no' would have been enough, but she just had to go and utterly destroy Luna's feelings. I can't even begin to imagine what she felt."

"Well, let's go upstairs and talk with her." Lynn Sr. said, standing up and holding out his hand to his wife. "You kids stay down here and eat your dinner. Your mother and I will be back down shortly."

They all agreed and went about consuming their meal as their parents went upstairs to speak with Luna. After they had left, Lori began to idly play with her food. In the short time since her parents had returned home from work, she had been busily thinking about the matter. And even though she knew that Luna only wanted her space, she couldn't stop herself from thinking that she could do something to help her sister. That she had to do something to help her.

"Hey, I want you all to listen up for a second." She stated firmly, "After dinner we are all going to meet in the basement to have an emergency sibling meeting. We need to talk about Luna."

"But Lori." Lincoln said. "She asked us not to do anything!"

"No, she asked us to stay out of what's going on between her and...and that little, shallow cow! That doesn't mean that she doesn't want us to try and help her through other means. We are her siblings and we have a responsibility to be there for her when she's feeling down. So I say that we try to think up ways to cheer her up and help her move on. I want to hear as many ideas as you can think of, so start asking yourselves: what can I do to help Luna feel better? Now get to eating, the sooner we finish dinner, the sooner we can start planning."

As their eldest sister's words sank in, a look of determination came to the faces of the younger Louds. They set to eating their meals quickly, all the while letting their brains move down their individual tracks of thought to a singular destination. One by one they finished ingesting their food and brought their dirty dishes to the kitchen sink before rushing down into the basement and seating themselves as they waited for the others. As the last of their group descended the steps, the meeting began and each of them started to voice their ideas. Not all of them would make it into the final plan, but that wasn't important to them. Because despite how different their ideas may have been, they were all in agreement with their goal.

Getting Luna back to her usual cheery and lively self was their top priority. And failure was not an option.

End of Part 1

Okay, so before anyone calls me out on it, I do NOT dislike Luna. The comments in the 'rejection letter' that she was given were purely to create a harsh impact for the sake of the story. I also have no problems with the pairing of Luna and Sam. In fact, I sincerely would love it to become canon. But I enjoy creating stories with conflict and this one quite literally put itself together as I was in bed Saturday night after having watched the new episode. I'm going to get to work on the next part soon and will have it up either before or after the new chapter for Avoiding Estrangement.