A/N: Thank you all for the reviews and follows.
Monday, April 4th, 2016
Early Morning
Lincoln awoke with a faint pounding in his head and he lightly grasped his forehead and gently massaged the strain away. The events of the previous night were still fresh in his mind: Lucy's tarot reading, the scary visions, and the odd dream with the weird room.
"What the heck happened?" Lincoln asked himself, "Was that even real, or not? Am I going crazy?"
These questions would have to wait until later as the analog clock in the boy's room reminded him that he had school today. Lincoln quickly got dressed and left his room, finding the hallway to be it's usual brand of chaos. Case in point, the twins Lola and Lana were having their daily duel to decide who was using the bathroom first while the sounds of rock 'n roll and heavy machinery were competing for dominance over the noise pollution.
"Good morning Lincoln." Lincoln flinched when he suddenly heard Lucy, who had somehow gotten behind him. She hung her head in shame, her long raven-hair covering her face and part of her chest, "I'm sorry that my reading frightened you last night. I hope you're not upset with me."
Lincoln pat her shoulder, "Don't worry about that Lucy, I'm okay! You all ready for school?"
Lucy gave her usual neutral look, "As ready as I'll ever be."
"Close enough! See you in the car." with that, Lincoln leaned his head into the room with the youngest of the Louds. "Who's ready for school?"
Little Lily Loud approached, dressed up for school while carrying her blanket.
"Are you bringing your blanket again?"
Lily nodded with a smile, and walked past her older brother.
"You need a ride to the college Lisa?"
The young professor was at her workbench, operating some sort of giant laser. She shook her head without turning around, "Negative. My lectures are all finished for the semester, and all that's left is to grade final projects and exams if my students ever get them done. For now, I'm busying myself with breaking down dense elements."
"Well, good luck with that!" Lincoln left the room and-
"Heads up!" Lynn yelled from across the hall.
The Loud boy ducked as a baseball flew over his head and smacked the wall behind him, leaving a small dent where it hit. "Lynn, what gives?" he asked as he caught the ball when it bounced back.
Lynn ran up to her bro, standing just a head shorter than him, "Sorry Lincoln! Baseball season just started and I need to be on my A game if I'm gonna get scouted."
"Yeah I get that, but please don't try to put me in the ER." he says as he hands the ball to her.
"No promises!" with that, she threw the ball downstairs and chased after it.
Lincoln headed down the hall, seeing Lana tapping one foot impatiently in front of the bathroom door, he turned towards the sound of music.
"Nice jam, sis!" he yelled over the guitar solo.
"Thanks bro!" said Luna as she finished up, "Say, you don't mind if Luan and me take Vanzilla for the night, do ya?"
Lincoln shrugged, "I guess not, I'm not using it tonight. Where are you two going?"
Luan grinned, she was currently writing on some flash cards, "What do you call half a giggle?"
"We both got gigs dude!" the rocker announced.
Their brother smiled, "That's great! Where at?"
"At this new place that opened up last January, some coffeehouse called 'Coffee After Dusk'. It's only open at night."
"Thank goodness too, or else they'd have to call it 'Before Dusk'!" Luan laughs, "Get it?"
Lincoln, Luna, and Lana shared a groan. Lola was finished with her shower and Lana went in the second she walked out. Lola then went into the her room that used to be Lori and Leni's room.
"Anyway, we're gonna be gone for half the night. Mom and dad already said it was alright."
"Okay then, anything else I should know?"
"Nah, have fun at school Linc. Oh and hey, watch out for them kids with the pumped up kicks, alright?"
"Will do, see you two later!"
"Not if we see you first!" snarked Luan.
Lincoln walked to the other side of the hall and knocked on the door to Lola's room, "The car's leaving in about an hour Lola, how long are you going to be today?"
"Go away Lincoln!" his sister yelled from the other side of the door, "I'm trying to pick an outfit!"
"Yeah, and I don't want to be put in detention again just because you can't decide what to wear."
"I'll be out in a minute! Now go away or I'm telling dad!"
He shrugs, and turns towards the chuckling to his left. "Heh, what a prude." Lana said after getting out of her shower and neglecting to put on a towel.
Lincoln shielded his eyes and looked away, "Lana, go get dressed, we're leaving soon."
"Sure thing, prude." she said as she walked past.
"And stop using that word!"
When the coast was clear, Lincoln entered the bathroom himself. He opted not to shower and instead just brushed his teeth before heading downstairs.
"Hey son! Ready for some eggs 'n bacon?" Mr. Loud called from the kitchen.
"Just brushed my teeth dad."
"So what? That's no excuse to pass on Eggs A La Loud!"
Lincoln couldn't deny that logic. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed himself a plate, thanking his dad. He took his breakfast into the dining room where Lynn, Lucy, and Lily were already eating and sat next to them.
"It sucks that we gotta go to school today." complained Lynn, "It's eating into my practice time!"
Lincoln shrugged as he started to eat, "Blame the student council, they're the ones who suggested we swap a day from spring break to make up for that extra snow day instead of one from summer."
"They've got too much power." Lucy said as she gave Lily some of her egg, "Next they'll close the library during lunch."
"They already did that Lucy." her brother reminded.
"...I'm not looking forward to freshmen year."
The twins showed up around then and joined the others for breakfast, arguing over which of them got more bacon.
"Dad only gave me two but you got three!" argued Lana.
"What about the one you ate off the floor?" Lola asked.
"Floor bacon is free bacon! Everyone knows that!"
Just another usual morning at the Loud House.
After breakfast, the six Loud children got into Vanzilla with Lincoln at the wheel (Lynn had previously lost all driving privileges after a "street race" incident), and headed for school.
Lunch
At a partly-full lunch table, Lincoln sat across from his best friend and confidant. "So, what do you think about my dream Clyde?" Lincoln asked after telling about the dream with the Velvet Room.
"Hmm..." the bespectacled boy tapped his chin as he looked to the right, "Well, Dr. Lopez told me that dreams can be a way to process emotions and come up with solutions to problems. You could just be worrying too much and your dream is trying to tell you not to."
Lincoln shrugged as he took a bite out of his chicken wrap, "You know what the weird part is? It felt so real. It felt like I was actually there in that weird version of my living room."
"That guy with the long-nose though, he just sounded silly."
"He was freaking me out, but I think he really wanted to help. Still not sure what he meant by my 'other self' though."
Clyde's eyes suddenly lit up, "Hey Linc, have you ever heard of the Persona Game?"
Lincoln scratched the side of his head, "I think I heard Lucy say something about it. It's some kind of ritual game, right?
"I've heard a little bit about it from Haiku, you're supposed to look at a mirror at midnight, and call out your 'Persona' with the lights off. It's supposed to make your reflection move by itself."
"...and what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, a 'Persona' can be regarded as another 'self'. You know, like what they call your character in some MMOs."
"Okay, but how does that help me? What do I do after my reflection starts to move? Ask it a question?"
"I've never tried it, so I couldn't say. I think it's worth a shot though. Why don't we both try it tonight?"
The white-haired boy shrugged, he went back to eating lunch. Behind him, a two-girl posse walked by, with one of them pointing at him. "That's him, right? The loser who went out with that Santiago bitch?"
"Shh! Like, he'll hear you!"
Lincoln closed his eyes and pretended he didn't hear them. Clyde stood up, "Do you mind? We're trying to eat here!"
"Ech, whatever weirdo." dismissed the first girl as they walked off.
Clyde sat back down and passed his friend an extra iced coffee, "Hey, don't let it bother you."
Lincoln sighed and accepted the drink, "Too late for that..." he finished the coffee right when the bell rang signalling the end of their lunch.
Clyde got up first, "So, we still doing the Persona Game?"
Lincoln got up too, "Sure, why not?"
The two tossed whatever garbage they had left and headed to their next classes. Lincoln's ex wasn't at school that day. She had been absent again.
After School
After a slightly rushed day of school, Lincoln took his sisters home and parked Vanzilla in the driveway of the Loud House. Everyone got out when the engine shut off with Lynn and Lana running off into the backyard, Lola and Lily heading upstairs, Lucy vanishing into the shadows, and Lincoln plopped himself down on the living room couch, laid back, and shut his eyes. The events of the previous night plus the extra day of school before his spring break had made him exhausted and now was as good time as any to get some rest.
He was woken up an hour or so later by Luan and Mr. Coconuts, "Hey sleepyhead! It wood be a shame if you missed out on dinner!" "said" Mr. Coconuts. Luan laughed, "C'mon Linc, you heard Mr. Coconuts! We're having spaghetti and meatballs tonight!"
Lincoln got up and stretched, "Well, I can't pasta up that offer."
His sister ruffled his hair a little, "Ha, ha! Now you're using your noddle!"
The two went into the dining room where Luan, Lynn, Lucy, and their parents were sitting. The younger kids could be heard from the kiddie table in the kitchen. They took their seats as well and dinner was served.
After dinner, Luna and Luan headed off for their gigs at the coffee shop, saying goodbye on the way out. Lincoln headed upstairs to his room and checked the clock on his wall. It was now 8 PM and Lincoln had four hours to kill. And what was the best way to kill time? Reading comics.
The boy kicked off his shoes and threw off his shirt and jeans. He pulled up a pair of grey lounge pants (in case one of his sisters walked in on him) and went through the collection of comics he kept in his dresser drawer, selecting a handful to last him until midnight.
Evening
Lincoln looked up to see that it was a minute to midnight. The boy put his comic away and headed to the bathroom, not bothering to put on a shirt. The hallway was empty with everyone in their bedrooms, sleeping or otherwise. Quiet as a mouse, Lincoln quietly crept over to the bathroom and entered, shutting the door behind him.
Once inside the dark lavatory, Lincoln shut his eyes for a few seconds to help his eyesight adjust to the lack of light. He opened them again, and approached the sink, eyeing his reflection in the mirror. The boy briefly wondered if performing this ritual would really do him any good, and decided he should at least try. Lincoln made eye contact with his reflection and began to chant.
"Persona, Persona! Please come here!"
Nothing happened. Lincoln's reflection stood in place as it stared back at him. Lincoln shrugged and turned to leave when he suddenly felt pain in his head like he had the previous night.
"I am thou... thou art I..."
It was the same voice as before. Lincoln covered his ears, shut his eyes, and yelled "Get out of my head!" The pain in his head was too much, Lincoln stretched his right arm towards the mirror to reach the medicine cabinet behind it. He didn't feel the mirror, what he felt instead was a sensation he could only describe as putting his hand into dense water. He opened his eyes and saw that his hand went into the mirror.
His hand was now in the mirror. Ripples formed around his arm as it dipped into the reflective surface. Lincoln couldn't believe his eyes, his mouth was agape, and a single word whispered its way out of his mouth.
"...what?"
Suddenly, Lincoln felt something grab his hand. It started to pull him into the mirror.
"Ah! It's got me!" he screamed as he jerked backwards. The pull from both sides was strong, so strong that Lincoln lost his balance after freeing his hand from the mirror, and fell back into the tub with a loud THUD. The back of his head hit the wall and both hands quickly went up to help soothe the pain as he let out a small groan.
Soon after making all that noise, the door to the bathroom swung open after being kicked open. The lights quickly turned on, and Lincoln saw six of his sisters poking their heads through the bathroom door. "What's going on in here?" asked Lynn who was most likely the one to kick the door.
Lana pointed him, "Why is your shirt off?" she asked.
"Blech! Were you doing gross boy stuff again?" accused Lola.
"You guys won't believe this, my hand just went into the mirror!" he explained.
There was a pause, then laughter erupted among his sisters. Lynn went over and playfully punched his arm. "Lincoln, relax! It's perfectly normal, there's no need to be so defensive about it!"
"I'm not making this up! My hand really went into the mirror!"
"Lincoln, I'd rather not go into the physical makeup of an aluminum glass mirror to explain how improbable your claim is at this time." Lisa scoffed, she then took Lily by the hand and headed back to their room, "Now if you'll excuse us, we'd like to experience REM before the night is over."
"Yeah, some sleep would be good too." Lana added as she followed them down the hall.
"Guys, wait!" Lincoln protested while standing up, "I can just-"
Lola pushed two gloved fingers on his lips, "Lincoln, you've disturbed my beauty sleep for two nights in a row already. There better not be a third or I'll tell mom about those weird Japanese comics you hide under your mattress." she threatened before she went back to her room.
Lincoln kept his mouth shut, his face started to flush red with embarrassment. Lynn patted his head, "Goodnight little bro, don't stay up too late." and walked out.
The boy lowered himself back down into the bathtub and slapped his face with the palm of his left hand. "What was I thinking?" he asked aloud, "Even I can't believe what just happened! What chance was there that my sisters would?"
"You forgot me."
Lincoln jumped and looked up to see that Lucy was still present. "Lucy? You believe me?"
She just stood there, expressionless, "I'm willing to at least give you the benefit of the doubt. You wouldn't make such a claim without a good reason, can you do it again?"
"Maybe..." Lincoln got out of the tub and walked back to the mirror, "...I dunno though, there's something in there, what if it grabs me again?"
He felt pressure around his waist, he looked over to see his little sister wrapping her arms around him. "Here, I'll be your anchor."
Lincoln smiled at her, "Thanks Luce." he hesitantly reached towards the mirror, "Okay, here I go!"
His hand went right in, just like last time. Lucy gasped aloud, "That's incredible..." her monotone cracked a little in excitement.
"I know, right?" Lincoln's arm went a bit further in.
Lucy tugged on him a bit, "You must tell me your secret. How are you doing this?"
"I have no idea. Maybe it has something to do with- whoa!" Lincoln's hand was grabbed again, and again he was being pulled into the mirror. He grabbed the sink with his free hand, but couldn't get free from whatever was in the mirror, "Lucy! Let go!"
"No!" she tightened her grip around him and refused to let go.
"Lucy!"
The pull was getting stronger somehow, the Loud boy could feel his grip on the sink weaken.
"Dang it!"
He let go of the sink and wrapped his left arm around his sister. The both of them were pulled into the mirror by the unknown force, and the mirror's surface went back to normal.