The cops informed Lincoln that the woman he was trying to find lived in the same apartment building as Ronnie Anne, so he went there to see what the spec was going on. When he ran into Ronnie Anne's living room, Lori was on the couch and was prepared to hear him say what she wouldn't want him to.
Lincoln: Lori, you're probably gonna be surprised to hear this, but I remember who you are.
Lori: Wait. Did you just call me Lori, not Rebecca?
Lincoln: Why would I call you Rebecca?
Lori: Because...don't you think I'm Ronnie Anne's sister?
Lincoln: No. Ronnie Anne doesn't have one. You're my sister. You're Lori Loud.
Lori ran over to her brother and hugged him.
Lori: I never thought I'd be so happy to simply hear a person say my name, but I am SO HAPPY YOU SAID MY NAME! So, does everybody in our family remember me now?
Lincoln: Sorry, but it's just me, I'm afraid.
Lori: I'll take what I can get.
Lincoln: Now, what's this about you being Ronnie Anne's sister?
Lori: I would like an answer to that question just as much as you do.
Lori let go of Lincoln and began to fill him in on what happened.
Lori: After I got arrested, I used my one phone call to call Bobby. After him and his mom bailed me out, I started kissing him...
Lincoln: Of course. He's your boyfriend and he's hot.
Lori: But then his mom says, and I'll never forget the way she said it, "Rebecca, what the heck are you doing?! Stop kissing your brother!"
Lincoln: ...What?
Lori: Exactly!
Lincoln: So you've just been living here the past two months?
Lori: Sadly, yes. You have no idea how torturous it's been to be with Bobby so much but not be able to do anything we used to do together because he thinks he's my brother.
Lincoln: Oh. It's funny you say that because I once read a The Loud House fanfiction that was about you...
Lori: NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW!
Lincoln: Right, sorry. You wouldn't want to know about it anyway.
Ronnie Anne and her best friend Sid walked in.
Ronnie Anne: We're ready to go.
Lori: ...Go where?
Sid: To A Sew Subject.
Lori looked at them with a raised eyebrow.
Ronnie Anne: The musical.
Lori: I literally don't know what you're talking about.
Sid: You promised you'd take me to it like a year ago.
Lori: If the musical was last year, why are you talking about it now?
Lincoln: She means you made the promise a year ago. But that doesn't make any sense because Ronnie Anne only met Sid...a lot more recently than last year. I guess we just found another thing that mysteriously changed.
Lori: Oh, tell me about it. When I first got here after being in jail, Sid here said "Hey" to me and I was just like "I've literally never seen you before in my life. Am I the one who's forgetting people now?"
Ronnie Anne and Sid would've said something about this, but at this point, they were used to Rebecca talking crazy.
Lori: Lincoln, you go home and see if you can figure out what caused all this. I'd come with you, but I have to go to the theater apparently.
When he got home, Lincoln began to suspect that someone had used Lillie's DeLorean to change some event in the past. He inspected the DeLorean's time circuits and discovered that the last time departed was December 25th, 1999.
Lincoln: Christmas Day when Lori was a baby? Why would someone use the time machine to go there...err, then?
After thinking about it for a while, Lincoln hypothesized that someone used the time machine to kidnap baby Lori and give her to Ronnie Anne and Bobby's parents. This seemed plausible to him, but there were still some flaws he noticed. How would him and Lori remember the original timeline? Why didn't his parents ever mention the fact they used to have a daughter named Lori? What kind of sicko would do something so horrible? Why am I asking you all these questions? Mermaid Man, where are you?!
Lincoln decided he'd go back in time to Christmas '99 to see what happened and worry about figuring out the rest later (if he ended up needing to). He was too young to drive, let alone fly, a car, so he would have to ask someone else to go back in time with him. But he didn't want to have to explain why he was using the time machine, so he made the judgement call to drive it really carefully. Kids, don't listen to Lincoln.
Once in 1999, he parked the DeLorean (I just realized there's an accidental "Lori" pun in that.) in his front yard, right next to another one. He stepped outside and waited for the driver of the other time machine to exit as well.
Once that driver did, Lincoln was shocked to see that it was Lillie.
Lincoln: Lillie, you had better not be here to do what I think you're here for!
Lillie: And what would that be?
Lincoln: You weren't gonna take Aunt Lori away and leave her on the Santiagos' doorstep, were you?
Lillie: WHAT?! You accuse me of kidnapping?! Have you lost your mind?! I just came here to see if apples taste the same in 1999 as they do in 2019. I realize I didn't have to come to Christmas to do that, but...Christmas is awesome.
Lincoln: ...But...if your time travel shenanigans didn't make everything change...what did?
Lillie: ...I could tell you.
Lincoln: What?! How do you know?
Lillie: Let me answer your first question first and then you'll know how I know. The reason everybody forgot who Aunt Lori is and she was transferred to another family is because...Anthony wanted to write a story about that happening.
Lincoln: ...What?
Lillie: Anthony came up with that idea, and he wanted to do it, so he did.
Lincoln: But he can't just make something impossible like that happen. There needs to be something that caused it.
Lillie: No there doesn't. Each and every one of us is nothing more than Anthony's imagination. He can make anything he wants happen because fictional universes like the one we're a part of don't have to follow the rules of real life. They can be whatever rules the creator thinks up, even if they don't make the teeniest tiniest bit of sense. Just like how a cartoon character can get hit by an anvil then be completely unharmed a second later, our world can have some ridiculous thing happen for absolutely no reason other than because Anthony thought it would be interesting.
Lincoln: ...Okay, I'm dreaming.
Lillie: No, you're not. And as soon as this is over, everything will go back to the way it was and none of this will ever be mentioned ever again.
The sound of something falling from the sky caught the attention of both of them.
Lillie: ...Huh. Nobody ever told me a meteor hit the Earth on Christmas '99. Sounds like something that would be interesting enough to share. But then again, Anthony didn't share any of the stories he thought were interesting between 2013 and 2017 because he was lazy.
The meteor kept getting closer and closer and closer and closer and closer and closer. It eventually became clear that it wasn't a meteor at all. It was a gigantic red boot.
Lincoln woke up surrounded by nothing but darkness and a metal box on a pole with two buttons and an envelope on it. One of the buttons was orange and to the right of it was a bright green one.
Having nothing else to do, he walked over to the buttons and read the letter that was inside the envelope.
Lincoln: "Dear Lincoln, that boot caused an explosion that was so big, it destroyed the Y universe, the X universe, and the Special universe. You are all that is left of any of them. Push the orange button, and everything will go back to the way it was and continue on like normal. Push the green button, and you will be destroyed as well. From Anthony."
Ending Explained: I realized today that I don't like writing anymore. I love creating characters, worlds, and stories, but I hate taking the time to get it all written down. As much as I would like people to see all the ideas for stories I have, it doesn't feel worth the effort anymore. What would make it worth the effort is knowing that I'm entertaining people. So, if there's anyone reading this who likes my stories and wants more of them (even if you like them in a "so bad, it's good" way), please let me know. I'm going to write one more chapter of this. If people want me to continue, Lincoln will push the orange button. If not, the green one will be pushed.
