July 7th, 2039
Linka had just arrived home before the other Louds have, and proceeded to sip from her ice cold mocha beverage she fell in love with. Her phone was off, so there was no telling what time it was exactly, but it seemed like awhile past the afternoon, as the sun was high than it had been earlier. "Ugh..." She still felt the hard punch right underneath her left boob, delivered by Lori's kid, teenager Lucky Loud, whom Linka wasn't sure of what she was to him, in terms of relation. It was all tricky and complex to comprehend when you'd try to arrange the pieces like it was.
The punching blow itself was from another fighting session they had, hiding it away from Luna, who made it strictly clear she wouldn't tolerate any violence from anyone under the roof. There was supposedly no need for fighting, or even training, as all troubles were over, in a consecutive thirteen years.
No need... But there was a want, a desire of it, in the center of Linka's heart.
They resided in Sunnyvale, around the northern part of California, after Lynn's house had been destroyed as their final villain had revealed himself; and to this day, they hadn't forgotten how surprising and heartbreaking it was to have lost him. Neither had Linka.
Life kept going for all of the Louds. All, with the deadening exception of Linka herself, who secretly loathed Lynn for her failure. But that had never been known on the surface, as Linka wouldn't even dare want to speak of that dark day of her life, or whatever scientific term it actually was.
Linka was now physically a woman in her 20s, but was also a teenager if it truly counted for her. In truth, the blood successor of Lincoln had stopped counting her age a little while after the new decade arrived, believing it no longer mattered as she deemed it confusing. Born at being eleven, would you be eleven on the first day?
She was just as old as he was when he died on her, she felt, and maybe that's what she should've just labeled to avoid the mental counting. Twenty one, forever. She twenty one years old, but not really. She seemed like it, so that's what she began to stick to right away. Whatever the real age was, that was relevant, no longer.
Linka rested on a dark red couch in the quiet house, the gift from a secret agency, which was literally called that. It was a house of two floors, five rooms and one bathroom. A tiny place in a not-so-quiet part in this town with a funny name.
The pros of this house were that there weren't any flaws the original had. No busty doorknobs, no constant leakings, no holes on the floor. But the only con was the missing fingerprints on the side of the house.
Of the five rooms, three of them were taken up by the remaining Louds. Of course, it was only Luna, Luan and Lana who would, every now and then, stare into the two remaining empty rooms for a few periods of time, which would be a depressing sight for Linka to bear. Lana would stare into hers, even, which Lily and Lucky found unsettling.
Linka finished her bottle and let it fall onto the yellow, round and ugly carpet Luna placed on the living room. The flatscreen tv, taking the familiar spot in front of the window like they grew on, prevented Linka from spotting their silhouettes as they finally came back from the hospital, undoubtedly with Lily's newborn son.
"Linka!" Luan and Luna were the first to come in, and behind them, Lana and Lily came in, with the baby in Lily's arms.
"Spare me, guys. I was... Doing stuff," Linka covered.
"You missed it completely, and for what?" Luna protested. "I hope it was worth it."
Luan, Lana and Lily headed upstairs, whispering about what the baby boy needed. "Is the crib ready?" Lily asked as they disappeared from Linka's view.
Luna stared down at the white haired clone, placing her hands on her waist. "You gonna tell me you couldn't come because you were out there, doing God knows what?"
"You know me, Luna. I'm getting exercises, and stuff. It's not like I'm getting involved with serious shit. You know me better than that."
"That's just it, Linka! You're also of h-" Luna swallowed her next words, not having the stomach to hurt or offend the clone. "You have certain memories, and-"
"I haven't done anything bad in the last thirteen years! Why would I start now?" Linka backlashed at the head of the Louds.
"Ugh, you're just like a freaking child, you know that?" Luba had no desire to be in an arguing state, especially for a very great miracle. "Anyways, just come upstairs and see the nee addition to the family, will you?"
"No promises," Linka chuckled.
"So, uh, I take it Lucky's taking a nap?" Luna asked.
Linka points up, halfway extending her arm. "You got it, dude!"
"Ugh!" Luna was done getting through to her, and left her alone to catch up with the others.
She headed up abd found them assembled in the room occupied by thr other three main Loud sisters. Lily was resting happily on Luna's bed, cradling her newborn with gentle ease. Lana and Luan were naturally weakened by the child, giving off puppy eyes in awe and squeaking away at the cute infant.
"He's so adorable, Lily! And I can see he has blonde hair, too!" Luan exclaimed. "Can I hold him?"
"Sure you can," Lily agreed. She handed the sleeping baby to Luan, while closing her eyes. "It still hurts below there," she confessed.
"I suggest you nap, sis," Lana beckoned, "Rest, little sis, and we'll watch over him."
"Okay," the youngest sister agreed, adjusting herself in Lana's bed.
Luan carried the the baby out, and Lana pulled the door shut behind them. Luna arrived as they left Lily to sleep. "To Lucky's room?"
"Not sure if he's up already. He was still snoring when we left," Luna informed them. She proceeded to knock on Lucky and Lily's room. "Dude, are you up?"
A faint groan emitted from the other side of the room. "What's your beef?" The thing from behind croaked.
"Don't give me that attitude, kid. Get out here, your newborn cousin's just arrived, come say hi!" Luna despised his attitude.
"Oh, alright, five minutes," Lucky moaned out.
He moved out of his sheets reluctantly, ready to start the day of his new life. The school part was over, for he had graduated already, and college was on the verge of coming. At least, that was the life Luna and the others thought suitable. It wasn't exactly what he wanted with great desire. But that was because he didn't understand how the world worked, or how Luna believed it did, for that matter.
But that didn't stop him from going about and protesting his ideas and plans for an uncertain future to her. The last conversation was a stalemate, when Luna pointed out what a college degree amounted to in the real world. She didn't piece together that this was part of his teenage phase, most of it being parts where he wouldn't listen, and his stubborn quality that proved irritating. Lori had not been that much like how her son behaved, so it was clear where this genetically came from.
Another thing he'd fight over was that everyone was holding back about his parents, and most of the past events had been kept locked away from him. There was almost never a moment where he forgot about all that, or at most, grew curious enough.
Other than a general description and personality of his mother, the late Lori Loud, there was nothing else they would offer the teen. They let him believe what he figured was the main scenario; both parents left him off here, and went elsewhere. That was until Lana once let it slip that something befallen them. After that, Lucky would seek out answers on where and why his parents left, or whatever the hell happened to them.
He came out, sporting only a dark green tank top and some gray boxers. He yawned gratefully, stumbling sleepily into the room Luna was guiding him to.
"Wait, dude, ugh!" She sniffed him, and then pushed him towards the bathroom. "Get a shower, man."
Lucky had trouble turning the knob with his left arm, due to the hand that was still giving him grief after a punch to Linka's chest. Luna squinted suspiciously when she noticed.
"What's up with your arm? Oh, did-" Luna grew to a scolding mother's voice. "Did you have another one of those fights? Really, Luck?"
"No," he lied through his blurry eyes. "I tripped and hit my hand on, uhh, the pavement! It's nothing!"
There was really no need for anyone to find out about this. Sure, most of the Louds decided to go into a pacifist lifestyle. It was Linka who still had the idea where self-defense was needed as a contingency response if it was ever necessary. Lucky bought into the idea, and Linka went on to train him for a good few years now.
And they would often have sessions often, with most of them turning out in Linka's favor, as she was the stronger of the two, and Lucky would still be surprised and wonder how it was possible.
On their last one, which was hours ago, Lucky had gotten a good punch on her that cost him equally. Linka was feeling the impact's pain even less than that his hand endured, but it was still there to sting.
"Lies! Just... Ugh, I'm not dealing with you. But grow up, will you?" Luna grunted and left to see her newborn nephew, and Lucky went off to shower.
The newest Loud addition spent the next half hour sleeping in its nice crib, entangled in a blue blanket. The three sisters stayed in the room, and were still there by the time Lucky came in, with his red hair still fairly wet. Linka was the last to join him after dying of boredom below, and had a front row seat to see Sleeping Baby, The Movie.
"Is this..." Lucky moved besides Linka, looking down to the crib. "A boy, huh? The only cousin I've ever met. So, what's his name?" He turned to Linka for the answer.
However, she kept her eyes locked onto the baby, without a word.
Luan answered for the white haired clone. "It's Lincoln. His name is Lincoln." She smiled at the homage Lily had intended to pay tribute to for the fallen brother. It was a beautiful choice of Lily that made Luna shed a silent tear back at the hospital.
"Oh, another L name? How original," Lucky sarcastically replied.
"It's the name of your uncle on our side of the family-" Luan began to explain with attitude, but halted when Linka rose her head from the crib and aligned with Luan menacingly. The old prankster felt the hair on the back of her head stand on edge. "It's... Yeah, a hand-me-down name."
Linka pulled a Can-You-Not face and left the room in anger when Luan ended there.
"Well, alright then. Hey, little cousin." Lucky leaned over the crib and gently patted the infant's head. He stared at the baby long enough to remember the weekly scheduled questions, and placed himself by the sitting Luan in Linka's bed. "So... Will you guys ever tell me about, you know, my parents?"
"Lucky, we've been over this-" Luan started with a steady softness in her voice.
"Spare me that, aunt. I know that, but I always want to know about them, you know?" He sighed, feeling tired of repeatedly going back and forth with it, something they didn't realize.
Luan looked at Lana, and then back at her nephew. "Okay, look, your birthday's coming up in October-"
"I'm aware, cause my mom told you apparently, right? Before she left me? Did she give you a schedule about me, too?"
Luan took a breather, wanting to fall back to the bed. "Kid..."
It wasn't from Lori they found out from, but rather the Agency, who pulled up dated records from the hospital Lucky was delivered from. It happened to be October 21st, of the year 2021, around events that reshaped the lives of two siblings.
"Yeah, as you should know by now, yes. We'll tell you what you want to know once you're eighteen. Is that fair?"
The teenager crossed his arms and scoffed.
Linka was eavesdropping in on them, forming a malicious idea. She snickered ominously and stealthily, and crept into Lucky's room. She placed herself onto his bed, which was arranged in a messy fashion; there was a pile of clothes, which Linka couldn't tell were stinky or not; the bed was only a mattress on the floor, flat on the right corner of the room; there was also a desk that had definitely seen better days, and the top drawer was open; its companion wooden chair was tipped over, uncaringly; and finally, the room was odorous, as if something had died in there recently.
Linka was appalled by the smell only a little, but had enough repelling force to discard it. It definitely wasn't the clothes, or maybe it was that, but something else added to it.
It was time that Linka made her move, one long overdue. She played by their rules, and lived underneath a facade of false peace when, deep in ber heart, something had never been at peace. Something dearly was missing. Someone.
Lucky only took over three minutes, the conversation having gone loud enough to be heard through the thin walls. He was probably mad again about being kept general knowledge involving his parents. Then, footsteps went thudding in the hallway, and the redhead teen entered like a zombie.
Linka hid behind the open door, still invisible to him as he closed the door with a motion of his leg. Linka watched the brat fall onto his bed and still had his back to her.
He took a while to finally turn to her direction, and that's when he sat up, alarmed. "What- Why are you standing there?!"
Linka pressed a finger up to her lips. "Shhh, easy."
"That's creepy, you know!" Lucky lowered the tone the jumpscare presented. "So, what's up? Need some tree?"
"Tree? Oh, the drug? No, I've heard that you're just dying to know about your biological parents, right?"
"What?" Lucky raised an eyebrow, then shifted to stuttering. "W-wait, you know something?! This whole time, you happened to know something?! Really?!"
"Well, you skipped asking me because you thought I wouldn't know anything, cause I was a kid around then, right?" It was true, Linka struck him as someone who was unaware of the serious things, due to her being one of the youngest.
The teen nodded in silence.
"Right, well... I hate that they act like they're our guardians. I don't think I need mothering, or at the very least, watching over. And you, you're already old enough to know it all, right?"
"I don't disagree, yeah, but what can we do? We're fortunate they haven't found that we've been spareing behind their backs. And that, that's also something I don't fully understand. This family is weird-"
Luna crashed the party, fuming. "YOU'VE BEEN DOING WHAT?!"
Linka facepalmed at letting slip that Luna had heightened senses, despite them speaking quietly. "No, you heard wrong!"
"Nice try, dude! These ears don't deceive me! How long have you been sparring?"
Lucky groaned, burying his face within his pillow. "Can I just get some sleep?"
"We're talking about this now! You both know the rules around here!" Luna pulled off Lucky's covers away, pulling him out of bed.
"Can you not?" He protested. "Okay, yeah, you caught us! Now let me be!"
"Dumb kid... I wish we returned you to the damn orphanage!"
Lucky let that revelation sink in right before his impulsive reaction kicked in. "What? What the hell did you say?!" At first, he thought it was a motivational joke to get him to stoop down. Luna's face showed regret as she just scratched her neck.
Linka coughed, with the moment calling for her to hightail it out of there, but wasn't taking it.
"Well?!" Lucky got up right in his aunt's face. "Orphanage? Is this- Is this fucking true?!"
"Watch your tongue..." Luna faced down, feeling stupid for her own outburst.
"Answer me!"
Luna took a step back, finally allowing the brat his sleep. "No, no, just... Happy nap, kiddo," she lightly said as she evaded him and the truth.
Linka cleared her throat. "Damn... She'll only let this go silenced for so long."
"Enough games... Are you gonna talk or be like them?"
Linka, again, pressed a finger to her lips, and simply said, "No," while nodding to say yes. Then, she moved up to him and she whispered unto his ear the very thing she deemed all that mattered now. "I'm going to run away, and maybe you should come with me."
July 8th, 2039 - Elsewhere
The roughed up individual, in a purple sweater and a dark blue skirt, crawled towards the blazing fire set in the town. All the wooden and concrete buildings on both parallel streets were engulfed in fire. The smoke had done away with the clear blue skies, succumbing the beautiful atmosphere into a horrifying, depressing coat of darkness.
The person, badly bruised from a recent fight, kept painfully crawling like an infant towards the metal gates she knew to be the entrance. The dirt road was a drag for her, getting one of her favorite outfits dirty, but she carried on. "Guys! G-"
She was weak, concerned for everything and everyone she hoped to not lose today. At this point, there was no telling who was dead, and who was still drawing breath. "Lemy! Lemy, where are you?!"
She stopped her movements once she reached the gate checkpoint. "Anyone?!"
Within the first building on fire, she caught glimpse of an odd, but familiar sight. Two eyes, with red pupils to their iris, and a layer of gray where the white should have been, grew visible, glaring at the defeated girl from within the flames.
"You!" Lupa cried out.
Her attacker, the one who had bested her not too long ago, was there, still around after causing the chaos Lupa was now seeing.
"W-Who are you?!" Lupa screamed, but only to see the pair of hostile eyes disappear. She gasped, and looked around to find them again. But she was looking in the wrong place.
The assailant's foot stepped on one of Lupa's own, sending her into a higher pitched scream. "Looking for me?" The mysterious assailant then laughed with diabolical content, and then placed a hand to the scared Lupa's neck. "Thanks for the challenge, Lupa," the assailant said.
AN: well, I couldn't really say what this is or where this leads to but I'm pretty sure I can pull it off. Of course, it's gonna be different from 2026 in a few ways, but I'll still have some homage spread like tasty sprinkles. Just expect the unexpected. Really. Again.
Oh and happy birthday to the show! Looks like I have three ongoing fics, plus a fourth; Five Rooms, a dark I-D tale.