Erring is on every cold stepping stone, but not in a fervent spirit. For Lincoln, the tough has yet to come.
With his shield and his sword, he was able to fend off the first wave of wisps, which he presumed are threats from The Wilkes. Indeed enough, after he defeated five more otherworldly wisps, one more wisp fashions a crossbow out of thin air and aims at Lincoln. More than what Lincoln previously thought, those crossbows turn out to be lethal when Lincoln witnesses one arrow punctured to a hollow tree and obliterates it to oblivion. At this, Lincoln tries to run away from the wisp.
A chase ensues between the two of them. The deadly wisp keeps shooting arrows at the hasty 11-year-old. Yet, he is able to evade them with his shield. But one arrow nearly strikes his shoulder; so Lincoln instinctively pull out his sword and strike it to oblivion. Though it is a critical hit, the part of the sword where Lincoln struck the arrow marginally corrodes from the impact. But it is not time for Lincoln to reflect on that, as the deadly wisp dashes to his position. Lincoln tries to escape from the wisp's way, but he suddenly trips from the debris-filled ground that drops one crystal orb towards a steep slope. Knowing it is a vital memory that is stored in that orb, Lincoln races to get it by dropping towards the slope. In obvious implication, this sends him rolling down the slope like a stone.
As he lands on the ground, Lincoln tries to reach out for his sword, but the wisp suddenly spots him from above and hurtles to his direction. It is truly a struggle for the ailing, innocent boy to reach the only weapon he can use to outdo the evil forces. But with his current circumstance, he gets hopeless, for he thinks this might be his end. Never would he guess that this will be his demise.
Thus, he spends those last moments, reminiscing his loved ones, especially his sisters. It had been a long journey for Lincoln, from the first time he appeared to his family to the time he placed himself in a life-risking situation. Despite the hardships he had gone through, it did not compare to the joys he had as a thoughtful student, a dedicated friend, a lovable son and a great brother.
Thankfully, this becomes enough for Lincoln to gain the strength that he needs. With that, he reaches out his sword and prepares to gash the wisp by its abdomen. This sends the wisp crashing to the ground towards a pile of ground debris. The gash is nearly fatal for this wisp that it slowly withers from its wounds.
Fortunately for the Wilkes' minion, but unfortunately for Lincoln, it spots a glowing object buried on its side. The wisp then picks up the object form the rubble, which turns out to be one of Lincoln's memory orbs. And for this orb, it flashes one important happening on his life: his birth. Unbeknownst to Lincoln, it is crucial to keep the memory of his birth, as this is legitimate for the boy to believe his part of the Loud family. Without it, then it will severely affect the recuperating Lincoln right now, in terms of his mental state.
But since the Wilkes' minions are also mindful of Lincoln's mental condition, the dying wisp proudly takes this advantage to show the orb to Lincoln and absorbs itself in the orb, for it to fade along with him.
Lincoln is wondering what the wisp is doing. But he then gets troubled when he sees flashes of his young family from the orb. Realizing that the orb (not from the five orbs he has in his possession) contains one of his memories, he races to get the orb before the wisp does its deeds. "No! Please! Stop! Don't please!" the poor 11-year-old pleads to the wisp, "Don't your dare!"
But it is too late for Lincoln. The wisp absorbs itself in the orb. And as it dies, the orb blasts through its surroundings that sends Lincoln being thrown off from his position at full force and screaming at place.
Somehow, back in the real world, at the exact same time, Lori suddenly wakes up in screaming. She finds herself resting by the computer desk with the PC still on. She immediately switches it off and heads to the couch to rest for the whole night. Going to her own bed is not an option for her, since she does not want to show her vulnerability to Leni. Thankfully, the cushion slumbers of the sofa gives her comfort but not warmth from the impending rainstorm.
Having heard of the rampant scream, Mrs. Loud gets up from the bed and checks out where it came from. She senses it to come from the living room. Thus, she enters there to see Lori curling her body on the couch.
"Lori, everything okay?" she earnestly asks.
Lori can only mutter her chatters from the cold. But more than that, she starts to mope about the circumstances that the family has right now.
"Lori sweetie, it's gonna be okay," Mrs. Loud assures comfortingly.
"Mom, I don't know. With Lincoln at the hospital, and with amnesia, I don't know…" Lori admits hesitatingly.
"Then be hopeful. We are not going to lose your brother, I promise," the Loud matriarch consoles, "We are all in this together."
With that assurance, Lori embraces her mother tearfully. "Oh mom…" she mopes. But more than just worrying about losing Lincoln from his post-traumatic amnesia, Lori deeply fears about her responsibility to handle the case that her dad explained to her. Yet, she wants to accept it, for her brother.
For now, the elderly Loud sister rests upon her mother's arms.
"Okay Lori, get some rest now. You have a long day later," Mrs. Loud says as she pats her head and gives her one more embrace before they turn to sleep.
The next day, the Loud sisters (except for Lori) drop by at the hospital to visit Lincoln. But the nurses designate them at the viewing room where they witness Lincoln undergoing mental examination by specialists for concussion.
Inside the ICU, a doctor with a British accent initiates a face-to-face interview with Lincoln, "Good morning Lincoln, my name's Dr. Martin. We're going to have a little chat, if that's okay with you, my lad."
"Well, I don't see why not," Lincoln replies loosely, "I mean I have nothing to do here, besides waiting for the second the physician ask me of my metabolic status."
"Good. Now I have a set of questions to ask you. All you need to do is to answer them based on what you know."
"Well, okay. I might as well give it a try," the 11-year-old says.
"Pleasant. So, tell me. What's the capital of Somalia?" the doctor asks.
"That's Mogadishu," Lincoln straightforwardly answers.
"That is correct."
Lincoln's sudden feat on answering basic knowledge questions catches the attention of the sisters.
"How come Lincoln knows that if he has amnesia?" Lola wonders.
"Dunno, but maybe it means Lincoln is getting his memory back," Luna deduces.
"Really? Lincoln's remembering?" Lana asks.
"No, I don't know," Luna clarifies, "What I meant is he might get his memory back."
"There's an explanation to that but I doubt you would accept it as fact," Lisa comments.
"Oohh, I hope he doesn't run off steam along memory lane. Hehe," Luan shares.
Back to Lincoln and the doctor...
"Okay, what's the difference between osmosis and diffusion?" the doctor questions Lincoln.
"Osmosis is the transfer of liquid through the cell wall, while diffusion is the transfer of either solids, liquids or gases from a higher area of concentration to a lower area of concentration," Lincoln easily answers.
"Correct."
"And osmosis is a kind of diffusion, only opposition: liquid moves from a lower concentration to a higher concentration."
"Thank you for emphasizing. Okay, who wrote 'The Catcher in the Rye'?"
"Jerome David Salinger."
Back to the sisters...
"Hmm...interesting. Lincoln seems to retain trivial facts in his memory," Lisa implies.
"What does that mean?" Lynn asks.
"It means, for your layman's terms, that Lincoln might have remembered things he learned at school," Lisa answers, "Not the same can be said for Lincoln's memory of us."
"But he can remember us, right?" Leni butts in for Lisa's confirmation.
"That's why I said not the same can be for Lincoln's memory."
"But man, I didn't know he could be this smart," Lana comments.
"Well, it's not like he showed that previously," Lucy points out.
Back to the interview...
"And finally, who is the 23rd president?" the physician asks.
"Benjamin Harrison. Republican. Elected president in 1888," Lincolm
"Very good, Lincoln. You're doing impressive with our question and answer."
"Anymore, Dr. Martin?"
"Well, we can go through more." The doctor then flips his papers on his clipboard for a new batch of questions. "Okay, where do you live?"
"I don't remember," Lincoln answers, trying to dig for answers, "Wild guess: Burbank, Los Angeles?"
Though baffled, the physician shrugs this off and proceeds with the interview, "Good. Do you have any pets?"
"Uhmmm, a parrot I think. Yes, a parrot."
Back to the sisters...
Obviously, they are perplexed at Lincoln's failure to answer the more personal questions. Though, this answers Lisa's assumptions.
"Knew it. Knew that condition concussed him," Lisa utters.
"What is it?" Luna queries.
"You see. Lincoln can only remember basic knowledge, and not episodic memories. Meaning, Lincoln knows 1 + 10, but not the 11 of us," Lisa explains, "And to clarify, I mean it being 11 of us. That includes Lincoln himself."
"But can we call it a good news?" Lynn asks.
"Depending on the outcome of this interview."
"So Lincoln might be 11 of us?" Leni asks, making Levi palms his face.
Back to the interview...
The doctor proceeds with a heavy-handed question, "Now Lincoln, I want you to answer this sincerely. Do you have a brother, sisters? Siblings, maybe?"
"I don't know," Lincoln stammers, struggling to answer the question, "Probably have no siblings. Nope, I have no brother or sisters."
Despite that claim, the doctor, being a professional neurological practitioner, proceeds regardless.
Back to the sisters...
It is a shock for them that it becomes clear in their eyes that their dear brother fails to remember his sisters, the people he say he would never trade for the world. And at awe and disappointment, they all refuse that Lincoln forgets about them.
"No, no, no, this could not be," Luna utters in panic.
"Lincoln cannot remember us?" Lola wails.
Lana then slowly lands herself to the floor and mope from such severe distraught. "That can't be! Lincoln needs to remember us, right?" she asks in denial.
"Lana, we don't know," Luna replies, giving up. She then takes up Lana and hugs her to ease off her worries. "It's okay Lana. We're in this together. Lincoln has not forgotten about us. I promise."
"Promise?" Lana tearfully asks, raising her pinky.
"Promise," Luna assuredly guarantees, then crosses her pinky to Lana's as they embrace.
After that honest sister moment, Lucy approaches them and joins in. "I truly have a hard heart. But now it softens, for Lincoln," she shares.
"Can we hold hands again, guys?" Leni asks.
"Well, it could be a handful at this time," Luan responds with a bit of wordplay there, since this is a serious moment for the sisters.
"I guess we could," Luna replies as she holds Lana and Lucy from the right and left side, respectively. Leni, Luan, Lily, Lynn and Lola follows suit, while Lisa is the last one to join in, rubbing off the adamancy she has for her siblings.
Minutes go by, and the Loud sister take this moment to come together and muster their courage to overcome their worries about Lincoln. Suddenly, the neurosurgeon Dr. Benedict bursts in the room to see the siblings hugging each other.
"Girls, you are here early," the doctor utters.
"We came as we could," Luna answers in behalf of the sisters.
"Okay, you with your parents? Or any guardian?"
"Mom and dad are busy at the police for Lincoln's case," Luan answers.
"So, we plan to go ourselves," Lana adds, "Also Luna's leading us now."
"That's fascinating. Glad you sisters can bond still as one unit." The doctor the brings out a report to announce in front of the sisters. "Now, you do girls really want to see your brother?"
The Loud sisters then collectively share their thoughts, to which they answer "Yes" or "Definitely".
"Okay I see your excitement," the doctor says, "Now, we determined Lincoln's memory condition. The semantic memories retained than the episodic ones. Meaning, he fully forgot about who he is, since the day he was born."
Of course, this surprises the sisters further. "Now girls, it's not to late for your brother from completely forget about you. In fact we need you. Since Lincoln really needs psychoanalysis, we need your presence to map his cerebral cortex and shell out his memories. What'd you say?"
With no other choice, Luna replies, "We'll try. Right guys?" The sisters then collectively reply like previously.
"Good, okay. Gonna give you girls 10 minutes to say 'hello' to him. You may enter his room know," the doctor says, signalling for the girls to rush to Lincoln's ICU. They never mind the time or the foregone conclusion. They just want to see their brother, for they missed him very much.