So, quite the…interesting reception to the last chapter. Let me address that.

I am well aware that everyone and their brother has done something with Lucy and the Princess Pony book. This was merely MY take on it. Despite the fact that it's been a few months, Lucy is currently at a point where she is fearing for her brother's mental health. As such, she thought that revealing the secret would help her brother see just how much she loves him.

And for Lori, even though it was just the second episode (third if you count the pilot short), I thought that her actions in that episode were just as bad as Lincoln's. Yes, she did go out and replace the game goggles after she accidentally broke them, but her attitude throughout the whole episode was just sh*tty. If I broke my little cousin's (don't have any siblings) toy, I would first acknowledge it, then properly apologize, followed by telling them I would GLADLY replace it.

Plus, both of these revelations helped the family acknowledge some issues with themselves. And come on, you all KNOW the Loud family could rival the Simpsons AND Griffins in several forms of dysfunction, so I'm sure the parents have at least considered therapy at some point.

Anyway, now that that's out of the way, enjoy chapter 3.

Also, this takes place BEFORE my Burning Secret fanfic, so that's why Lincoln is still at the kiddie table.


As Lincoln walked towards the Fifth-Grade classroom, Lucy and the twins looked at each other nervously. Obviously they knew what Leni had revealed had greatly disgusted their brother (it even disgusted Lana, and that was saying something), and they knew it was up to them to do damage control.

As they were silently debating what to say, they saw Rusty appear at the end of the hall, heading towards them. Their eyes went wide, knowing Rusty was the LAST person Lincoln needed to talk to at the moment.

"I, uh…gotta go ask Rusty what I should get Rocky for his birthday!" Lucy spoke up, startling her siblings, despite the fact that they were well-aware that she was there. Before Lincoln could say anything, his Gothic sister was already hurrying toward his friend.

"Huh, didn't know Rocky's birthday was coming up," Lincoln muttered, "Good to see Lucy's thinking ahead."

"Yeah totally," Lana said, nodding her head, looking at Lola for a moment before turning back to her brother, "So, Linc, ya want some gum? I got a couple pieces of X-tra Minty Gum, and I figure you may want more after…this morning."

Lincoln sighed, "Honestly, I just wanna forget that ever happened. Totally disgusting. Not trying to be a jerk but, JEEZ! I knew Leni wasn't that bright, but just…UGH!"

"Yeah, she totally screwed up," Lola nodded, "But hey, that shouldn't undo that wonderful family moment we had, right?"

"No," Lincoln shook his head in agreement, "I'm not gonna let one little incident overshadow that sweet moment. Kinda surprised you've all been feeling that way. I mean, I know we aren't perfect, but I always thought we all knew we love each other, even when we screw up."

"Well, nothing wrong with reinforcing that idea, right?" Lana asked, "After all, you can never tell someone "I love you" enough."

"Fair point," Lincoln nodded, "But still, surprised Mom and Dad have been considering therapy for us. Didn't think we were THAT bad."

"Ya never know," Lola shrugged, sighing in relief as she watched Lucy lead Rusty away, "After all, other than his obsessive crush on Lori, Clyde's a pretty ok guy, yet he frequently sees a therapist."

"True," Lincoln nodded, as they finally arrived at the First-Grade room, "Well, I gotta get going. See you guys later." At that, Lincoln turned to leave, only to stop as he felt both twins grab him in a hug.

"We love you, Linky," They both said, smiling up at him.

Chuckling, Lincoln returned the hug, "I love you guys, too."

At that, the trio parted ways, the twins heading into their classroom and Lincoln making his way to his locker.

As they sat at their two-person desk, Lola looked at Lana, "Do you think he's still upset?"

"Didn't look like it," Lana replied, "But then again, we didn't know that he's been dealing with depression all this time, so no way to know for sure."

The two frowned at that, sitting silently until class began.


After leaving the twins, Lincoln stopped at his locker and gathered his supplies for the day. He then headed towards Mrs. Johnson's classroom, ready to begin yet another day.

As Lincoln walked, he couldn't help but think back to this morning. In all honesty, he had gotten over the Princess Pony incident long ago. Yeah, his sisters had teased him, and (as Dad had mentioned) a couple of the taunts were a bit inappropriate. But still, he had been happy to help Lucy. Was he mad at her for lying to him and trying to trick him at the time? Of course. But even so, he had taken the blame for her, because he loved her.

As for Lori, he was more than happy to put that whole phone message incident behind him. After the two had made up, Lori had mentioned maybe talk to some of his sisters about his anger towards them, rather than bottle it up in that note like he had. He had talked to a couple of them, such as asking Lynn to stop being so rough and asking Luan to stop making puns every 5 minutes. But really, all it had done was work for HIM; he had gotten his frustrations out, even if his sisters ignored him.

Then came the last topic brought up. Lincoln was well aware that the sisters tended to stick together most of the time, even on the rare occasion where one or more of them was in the wrong. And yeah, it did feel as though when it came to apologizing for mistakes, he had to move mountains while his sisters could simply say the word "sorry" and all was good. It annoyed him and felt very unfair, but what could he really do? Other than calling them out on it (which would likely do no good), there was really no way to handle it.

Or so he thought. Apparently the girls had been aware of this for some time, and were each just waiting for someone else to bring it up. Lincoln was sure when Lucy admitted the truth about the Princess Pony book, she had no idea the flow of emotions she was going to bring upon them. But hey, no reason to complain, right?

Or was there? As Lincoln took his seat and looked at the clock (5 minutes before class started) he couldn't help but wonder where all of this was coming from. Sure, his parents thinking about family therapy since the whole "luck" incident made sense, as that had been a dark time for the family. But as for the girls, all this love and regret seemed to come out of almost nowhere.

"When did it start?" Lincoln mumbled to himself, as Clyde and Ronnie Anne walked in and took their seats on either side of him. They tried to start a conversation with him, yet the white-haired boy was too absorbed in his thoughts to pay them any attention.

Friday had been a usual Friday for the family, with them all rejoicing when they got home, happy the weekend was here. Lori and Leni had gone out to dinner and a movie with Bobby and Sammy and didn't get back till later. Luna and Luan hung out in their room, listening to music and watching funny videos. Lynn and Lana rough-housed in the backyard. Lucy disappeared into the vents, Lisa experimented in her lab, Lola held a tea party for her dolls, and Lily just toddled around, being her usual adorable self. Saturday was also a usual Saturday at the house, nothing really happening other than the kids destroying the upstairs and being ordered to clean up before they went to bed.

Then Sunday…Sunday was the day he noticed his sisters acting weird. For most of the day it was a usual weekend for them, but then he went to Clyde's.

Turning towards his best friend, Lincoln asked, "Hey, Clyde? Do you remember anything unusual happening Sunday when we watched the new AARGH!?"

"Not really," Clyde responded, "I mean, I know you couldn't talk about it afterwards because you needed to help Lola and Lana with their homework. But other than that, nothing out of the ordinary happened."

"What's got ya bugged, Lameo?" Ronnie Anne asked, looking towards her not-so-secret crush in concern.

Sighing, Lincoln explained how his sisters had started treating him like royalty out of nowhere, and it slightly unnerved him.

"Shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, Loud," Ronnie Anne said, shrugging, "From what you've told me, my messing with you was nothing compared to the crap your sisters put you through on a near daily basis. If they realize they haven't been the best of sisters to you, I say take advantage of it."

"That seems wrong," Lincoln commented.

"I don't think Ronnie Anne means take advantage of your sisters' kindness," Clyde spoke up, "I think she means enjoy it to the fullest without being paranoid about some ulterior motives."

"What nerdy boy said," Ronnie Anne nodded, "Enjoy it before your sisters remember that they outnumber you 10 to 1. Besides, you gotta keep your head in the game for tomorrow."

"Right," Lincoln nodded, "Tomorrow's the big day." Even with his friends' encouragement, Lincoln couldn't help but feel overwhelmed about tomorrow. But it had to be done, he NEEDED this.

At that moment, the bell rang and Mrs. Johnson got everyone's attention, saying it was time to start class.


When Lori and the older sisters got home, they immediately set about making sure Lincoln's night would be perfect. He would be helping Luan at a party, then dinner, followed by one of Luna's concerts. Of course, they would have Lisa do his homework for him (despite his requests that she not) so that when he got home later, he could just relax. The sisters would offer to hang with him, and then Lana and Lola would tell him they wanted to sleep with him at night so he wouldn't be alone and would be reminded of how much his sisters cared for him.

At that moment, Luan got a text, "Running L8, could u grb my stff, & I'll meet u the prty."

"Text him back whatever he needs," Lori spoke up, and Luan nodded, typing the reply, before running up to her room. She ran down the stairs a minute later with her stuff in a duffle back, she and her sisters nodding at each other as she headed out.

"I hope this all goes ok," Luna muttered, as she headed upstairs to get a last-minute practice session in while Lori got started on dinner.


During the party, Luan made absolutely sure that the audience was always clapping for Lincoln, giving him the spotlight for the afternoon. Lincoln loved it, and on the way home he thanked Luan for such a fun time. The two hugged as Luan said she was happy to give him the spotlight because he was such a great assistant.

Upon getting home, Lincoln was greeted to spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, one of his favorites. At dinner, the siblings chatted, with a couple of the older girls popping in to make sure everything was going ok.

After dinner was Luna's concert, with Lincoln as a VIP. Technically, Luna was the opening act for another up-and-coming band, though Lincoln still had a great time rocking out with his sis. On the way out, Luna managed to snag Lincoln a souvenir leather jacket. Of course, it was imitation leather, would probably barely last a year, but it was still cool.

Chunk gave the two a lift home, during which they rocked out as hard as possible to the radio.

Upon arriving home, the older sisters (younger ones were already asleep) asked how the concert was and if Lincoln had had a good time. He stated he had, and the girls secretly flashed Luna a thumb's-up.

As the house quieted down for the night, the sisters sighed in content, certain they had avoided a catastrophe. Even though Lincoln had gotten home too late for the twins to ask to sleep with him, everyone was sure it was no longer needed.


The next morning, the girls got up at their usual time and got ready for school. As they were eating breakfast, they were discussing how they needed to make sure that Lincoln knew they loved him, meaning they needed to change so this didn't happen again. They all agreed to keep the promise they had made to be better with apologizing and owning up to their mistakes, as well as treating Lincoln as their brother rather than "the only boy (not counting Dad) in the house". They also figured one of the younger sisters could ask to sleep with him at least once a week, so he would know he was needed.

As they were eating, they slowly started to notice that Lincoln himself had yet to come downstairs. Lucy went up to get him, while the rest of the sisters discussed what to do this weekend. Since Lincoln would no longer be occupied by…what he had been planning on doing, they figured they could bring up the dinner and movie idea for after school again.

"Guys!" The sisters all jumped as Lucy appeared at the dining room entry-way looking worried, "Lincoln's not here!"

"What?" Lori cried, "How can he not be here? Did you check the bathroom?"

Lucy nodded, "His room, bathroom, all our rooms, even the attic. He's gone!"

The sisters looked at each other in alarm, trying not to panic. Leni spoke up, "Maybe he's just taking his secret things to school without us noticing."

The girls all looked at Leni in shock, "Secret things? What secret things?" Lori cried.

"Don't know," Leni shrugged, "I just saw him sneak something into his room on Monday, then the other night he tried to hide the paper he was looking at when I interrupted his homework to talk to him."

Most of the sisters looked ready to strangle Leni after she said this. "And," Luna's eye twitched in annoyance, "It didn't occur to you to TELL US ABOUT THAT!?"

"Not really," Leni shook her head, still seemingly oblivious to the fact that she screwed up, "We needed to focus on Linky's depression, so I figured it wasn't important."

"Leni, you're an idiot!" Luan cried in frustration, before turning to her Gothic sister, "Lucy, call Rocky and ask to speak to Rusty, now!"

Lucy nodded again as she pulled out her phone and called her friend/crush, "Rocky, I need to speak to Rusty, it's urgent!" The sisters looked at Lucy as she waited, "Rusty, listen, I don't have time to explain, just tell me, I your dad's gun still in your family's safe? I said I don't have time to explain, just check!" There was a long pause as Lucy waited for Rusty to check, "It's not?! Are you sure!? Ok, bye!" Lucy hung up and looked at her sisters with dread, "Rusty assured me the gun was not where it usually is, and neither he nor Rocky had taken it."

"Lincoln's had the gun all week," Luna muttered, "How did we not know?"

"What about the paper he hid from me?" Leni asked, scratching her head.

"It must have been Chandler's class schedule or maybe a suicide note," Lynn said, trying not to freak out, "Now he's gonna shoot Chandler and then kill himself!"

"WHAT?!"

The girls turned towards the dining room door, where their parents were standing in shock at what they had just heard.

Trying not to panic, each of the girls started talking at once about how they had found out about Lincoln's depression by listening to his audio diary, and how they discovered his animosity towards Chandler. Add the fact that he had "big plans" this Friday, it was easy to put together what exactly their brother had planned. Needless to say, Mom and Dad had their phones out before their daughters were done talking.

"Yes, police?!" Rita cried into the phone as her husband held her tightly. Neither could have imagined their only son would do something so drastic.

By this point, the sisters were running out the front door. They hopped into Vanzilla and Lori stepped on the gas, zooming out of the driveway and towards RWES. As they drove, ignoring all stoplights (nearly causing several accidents in the process), each sister prayed they were not too late to save their brother from whatever messed-up thing he had planned.


Well, looks like things are really heating up. Will the sisters be able to save their brother from himself? You'll have to wait till next time to see.