Pew, I`m sorry it took so long to update this new chapter, but between real life problems, a creative block and me getting ill for a few days, it slowed down the process considerably.
Another problem I was faced with was writing Lisa, since this is a fairly grounded story and she as a character is...well not, and this chapter is partially about her getting redemption, and some people might find her scenes iffy, if so I'm sorry, but this part was always challenging for me to write and was further more done under challenging conditions, I just wanted to get it over with. Also this chapter involves a fairly brutal fight and well if you're someone who doesn't take kindly to Lynn, you might enjoy it.
Also I noticed a problem when I upload chapters, that being certain words from the original text getting erased, I`m still a novice so please if you know how to fix that bug, tell me in the reviews.
" Ow...ow...ow...ow..." Lincoln kept squirming as Lucy rubbed some medicated cream over his bruises "I know it hurts Lincoln, but this will help you heal faster." the little goth assured him as she finished rubbing it over all of his bruises, though Lincoln, like every patient, couldn't help but understate the severity, or maybe he just didn't want to look like a whimp " I told you it's not so bad, they'll probably be gone in 2 days max.". On the other side of the couch Lana was petting Fang and still felt worried about her brother "It is that bad, I saw how those bullies were hitting you...maybe we should get you to a hospital." Lana stated naively, "She could be right..." Lucy added "...you may have broken ribs, internal bleeding, hematoma..." she kept listing morbid forms of internal trauma which made Lana gasp in fear, Lincoln rolled his semi-amused.
" No need to worry girls, if I had any of that stuff I would have felt it by now, it's just some bruising." he assured them, much to Lana`s relief. "Lana?" Lucy suddenly called her, " Yeah?" "The way you stood up to those bullies, that was pretty cool." Lucy sounded as reserved as usual, but still showed clear admiration, however Lincoln cut in with a slightly harsher tone, "Yes but it was also foolish, that Lyla nearly hit you, I don't want you try this kind of stunt again, promise?" Lincoln`s stern tone quickly melted into one of worry, " Sure, unless I see someone hurting you again." Lana boasted, missing the warning her brother tried to give her, Lincoln sighed, yet felt a bit proud, Lana was still a little spitfire no matter what. " And besides that's nothing"...Lana added humbly "...you should have seen Lincoln giving Lisa a piece of his mind, thanks to him she won't try those stupid psi...cosmo...logy tests on us again.".
" Sigh.I wish I could stand up for myself like that." Lucy spoke solemnly, Lana and Lincoln exchanged sad glances, " You can Lucy, you just have to try. Everyone has the courage to stand up for themselves.", the goth felt like Lincoln was just trying to lift her spirit " Thanks for the pep talk, but we all know that I'm too weak and sensetive to do that.", "Lucy that's not true!" Lincoln raised his voice " I know it because I thought the same about myself, yet when I had my limits pushed I finally stood up to not just Lisa,but to Lynn as well." Lucy was amazed "You stood up to Lynn?" she asked meekly, " I did, just yesterday. I told her that I wasn't going to her stupid game and just told her what I thought about her..." Lincoln`s face became grim as he thought about Lynn..." And yes she kicked a soccer ball into my face, but she didn't try anything else to convince me otherwise."
"That`s just like her. Everything has to go her way, and she can't even handle criticism." Lucy blurted out in a surprisingly angry manner, catching her siblings of guard, " Lucy,do you have a problem with Lynn?" Lana asked as the goth started shrinking back and looking away, " It's alright Lucy, if you have something on your mind you have every right to tell us, we`ve done a lot of that today anyway." Lincoln was trying to get his sister to open up and it was working, slowly Lucy built up the strength to speak her mind " I was her roommate for 2 years and to be honest I hated it. I always found her annoying, she's so loud and would never give me piece, with her balls were always flying across the room all the time and broke a lot of my stuff, I had to repair Edwin twice, and even at night I would have struggle falling asleep because she would always bounce a ball of the wall while in bed..." Lucy became quiet for a moment "...but worst of all is her attitude, she's so thoughtless and inconsiderate, she thinks her lifestyle is the one and only, she made fun of me for the things I do, she said that ghosts didn't exist and that my ceremonies to talk to them were a stupid waste of time, she tried to chase Fang out because she thought he bite her and suck her blood,even though I repeatedly told her that he only ate bugs, when she found my collection of Princess Pony commics she threw them away claiming I was better of without it, just anytime that she made me upset she would just brush it of as just playing or not even bother to notice it at all. I`m sorry if that was mean, but I had to say it.".
" No Lucy, you are absolutely right, Lynn is very stubborn, brash and inconsiderate and she owes you an apology. I know because I had to bear the brunt of her pig-headed attitude a lot. Where is she anyway?" Lincoln wondered, "I think she was sleeping over with one of her teammates and was practicing for some kind of tournament all day, I don't know for what though." Lana helpfully chimed in. Lincoln rolled his eyes " Figures, she's on so many girl sport teams who can honestly keep track of all the crap she's involved in." he looked back to Lucy " But when she returns I want you to tell her what you think of her, and don't worry the rest of us will have your back.". Lucy smiled at her brothers support, before Luan returned from the kitchen, carrying a soda bottle. She pored it into the 4 glasses ontop of the small table they brought in as they prepared to watch tv, Luan the n went back to the kitchen and returned with the popcorn they`ve been preparing.
" Are you sure you all want to watch the ARGGH! hour long special, we don't have to watch it if you girls don't want to.", "Lincoln don't play humble now, after what you've been trough you deserve this." Luan told him happily " And tomorrow we're going on field trip to the zoo, all for our courageous little hero there.", Lana blushed slightly at the compliment before adressing her brother "Yeah bro, spending time with you always makes me happy.", "I don't appreciate watching my friends being hunted and persecuted, but I take solace in the fact that eveything in that show is fake and staged." Lucy said monotonously while giving her brother a small smile.
" Yeah spending time as a family is what's important...by the way where's Lisa?" Luan suddenly realized, however the mentioning of her name did not sit well with the rest of the siblings, "What about her?" an agitated Lincoln asked, Luan was surprised by his sudden harsh tone " I just thought about getting her to join us, after all this is supposed to be a family event." Luan pointed out innocently, Lincoln sighed " Don't bother with her, she couldn`t care less about her family and would probably prefer to work on whatever experiment she`s currently working on.", "But you said how we should stick together us a family, but now you want to exclude her?" Luan questioned, sounding shocked, " That's the thing, she only cares about her precious science, she doesn't care about her family because in her words indulging herself with petty human emotions would only hinder her on her academic exploits." Lincoln explained bitterly, " Lincoln I`m sure you're exaggerating..."
"No he`s right!" Lana interrupted her, Luan saw the little tomboy crossing her arms and scowling at her " Lisa`s just a killjoy and big meanie, I say let her rot in her room.", "Lana`s right..." Lucy added quietly "... her soul is cold and filled with apathy, I don't want to see her or her cruel experiments." the goth stated, surprisingly ARGGH! special started, taking away the younger siblings attention, Luan stood there feeling conflicted, her siblings were actively going against the thing that they agreed upon a mere hour earlier, yet to the 13 year old comedian it was evident that Lisa must have gotten into some kind of argument with them, remembering how she was supposed to the responsible one she thought it was her duty to resolve this fight. "Em excuse me, but I...have to get something from my room, I`ll be back in a moment.", after excusing herself Luan headed to the younger sisters shared room, who's door was surprisingly left slightly opened.
"Knock,knock." Luan joked as she entered, but got no response and surprisingly Lisa was laying motionlessly on her bunk, looking up, "Eh you're supposed to say : "Whos there?" " Luan tried to get a response out of her. "Could you please spare me your futile attempts at humor." Lisa finally spoke, sounding even more droning than ever before, "I don't think your in a position to judge someone's sense of humor sis, cuz you don't have one! Get it." Luan chuckled but was as usually met with silence, causing her to sigh "I give up..." she thought before sitting next to her toddler sister "Do you want to talk?", "And what would be the topic of the discussion?" the 3 year old genius asked apathetically.
"Well call it big sisters intuition, but between Lincoln, Lucy and Lana being obviously mad at you and you looking very upset I would be inclined to assume that there was some fight between you guys.", Lisa still didn't budge " We did have some disagreements, caused by their refusal to cooperate in my psychiatric studies, but I'm pretty certain that this was not the cause of my current lathargic state and the mental and physical turmoil that has engulfed my body, I`m trying to figure which disease correspond with these unusual symptoms...hey!" Lisa protested as Luan lifted her up and placed her on her lap, before lifting the toddlers glasses up, only to see her little eyes being bloodshot and several shiny lines on her face indicating tears.
"Lisa your "disease" is sadness, a common occurrence in people who have gone trough upsetting experiences making them unable to feel joy and happiness." Luan tried to make a joke but her concerned tone nullified that attempt, the child prodigy placed her spectacles down to hide her teary eyes " Implausible, that theory (sniff) hinges on the notion that I indulged my mind with human emotions (sniff)...and that would go against my basic nature." , "Then how we're you crying?" Luan gently stated the obvious, "The only logical conlusion is that I have contracted some form of eye infection that is making me loose my volition with my tear ducts." Luan was starting to get frustrated with Lisa`s denial, so she did the only thing she could, she embraced Lisa in hug, upon hearing her muffled protests Luan gave her an answer " I`m curing you of your illness, when someone`s sad they need a hug.", to Lisa the experience felt jarring at first, but it soon became more comforting and inviting, for once Lisa didn't overthink things and just followed her basic instincts and remained in her big sisters embrace.
"And an additional cure is telling others what's bothering you." Luan tried to coax her into opening up, but was met with the same "disease" argument again, so she tried a different tactic, to make Lisa recount all the psychological data she had gathered about her family in order to distract her mind from her ailment, which worked and had Lisa reveal everything including the rather shocking conclusion of Lincoln threatening her with a spanking.
"Lisa isn't it obvious to you?" Luan finally spoke "You`re feeling guiltily over what you have done to your sisters and then Lincoln finally knocked some sense into you regarding your faults and your feeling even more guilty now." Lisa was about to say something but Luan shushed her "Please don't give me that "above emotions" crap, you're a human, not a robot, and a 3 year old girl at that, you can't avoid feeling emotions, and now the only way to rid yourself of those negative, sickening emotions is by replacing them with positive ones, by apologizing to the others and proving to Lincoln that you aren't the soulless robot you made him think you are."
"How do you expect me to regain their trust when they made it clear that they don't want to be in my presence. I heard their very words" Lisa pointed out surprising Luan, the genius cocked an eyebrow " Am I believe that you're suprised? You do realize that we inhabit a small apartment and the only "wall" between me and the living room is a 2 and a half inch wooden door, which wasn`t even closed, enabling me to hear everything from you and Lucy being ostracized by your fellow hominids to Lincoln getting brutalized by a pair of barbaric cretins."
" And what did you think when you heard those things?" Luan asked her carefully, the 3 year old didn't need much time to give her an answer "My first though was to invent some kind of cross species mutation serum to regress all those tyrannical barbarians back into the deplorable sewer rats that they are, but to my misfortune I found out that our current data in the research of genetics hasn`t been perfected to that level...yet." Lisa explained while sounding surprisingly enraged, Luan started laughing confusing the genius "My I enquire what's so amusing?" she asked dryly, "What's so funny is that you already proved Lincoln wrong, you do care about your family, but hurting their tormentors won't prove your point, you need to prove it to your own family.".
Lisa crossed her arms "This whole emotion thing is a lot more elaborate and frustratingly complicated than I ever thought, I can't fathom how so many simple minded people can grasp it.", "It`s not Lisa..." Luan said kindly "...you`re just overthinking things, when you should just loosen up and let your emotions guide you.", " And how on Earth do you expect me to do that task, when I can't even comprehend it's basic elements." an agitated Lisa asked , "Baby steps little sis,and I told you how you can start..."
"Luan where have you been, you missed the entire show and it was actually pretty cool." Lana suddenly bursted into the room, followed by Lucy and Lincoln, the boy quickly looked at Lisa with a disapproving glare, but remained quiet, not so much the case with Lana "Hey what are you doing with that stupid jerk-head!" the 5 year old tomboy angrily shouted, Luan held one hand up defensively "Guys please calm down Lisa has something to tell you.", "Oh this ougtha be rich." Lincoln snarked while crossing his arms "I`m serious Lincoln let her speak." Luan warned him sternly before placing Lisa of her lap and giving her a gentle push towards her siblings "Come on now." she encouraged her.
As she was faced with disapproving glares Lisa actually felt nervous, but eventually found her voice "My dear elder sisters and brother, I would like to make a formal apology to all of you in regards to my mistreatment of you, I realized that I was being thoughtless and inconsiderate and I hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, and I'll try my very best to try and change my ways.", upon hearing this Lana and Lucy exchanged glances, feeling conflicted, however Lincoln seemed unmoved, but before he could say anything Lana embraced Lisa in a hug "Apology accepted. I don't like being mad at people and I just want my family to be whole again." the tomboy said sincerely, Lisa felt surprised by Lana`s sudden reaction and yet having her forgiveness made her feel like a weight was being lifted of her shoulders. "I`ll try my best to contribute to that." she assured the tomboy while growing a weak smile.
Lucy was hesitant, but then slowly moved in to join the hug "The spirits told me that forgiving someone releases your soul from being consumed by darkness, and I don't want to feel hate towards my own sister." Right then inner pain that Lisa thought was from an illnesses was steadily disappearing. But then she looked at Lincol who remained where he stood, looking conflicted on how to respond to this. Luan moved over to him "Well Linky, how about you?", Lincoln looked at his youngest sister, a look of confusion evident on his face, but then he finally spoke.
"I`m sorry, but I can't, I`m not convinced that you'll change your ways.", Luan wasn't expecting this "Lincoln she already apologized, what more do you expect?" she tried to reason with him, but the boy was unwilling to buy into potentially just another empty promise "To prove to me that she really means it, until then I can't take her word for it." he said firmly and with that he headed back to the living room to watch tv. The sisters saw Lisa looking down at the floor, looking dejected, Luan kneeled down to her "Don't look so down Lisa, he just needs some time, I`m sure that you'll earn his forgiveness in no time.", "Somehow I don't feel so optimistic about it." Lisa said sadly. But then they heard the door being busted open and heard Lynn`s voice exuberantly shouting as usual, Fang flew beneath the bottom bunk to hide after hearing her voice, "I have a bad feeling..." Luan thought about the arrival of the jock. As the sisters entered the living room they saw her and Lincoln glaring at each other.
"Oh it`s you..." Lynn addressed him condescendingly, Lincol just glared at her quietly "...so are you finally over being a sourpuss?" she asked him, but Lincoln just turned his head towards the tv, not even bothering to answer her, Lynn grew agitated "Oh so now it's the silent treatment? Fine! Whatever floats your boat." she shouted before going over to the other sisters "Hey guys, are you exited to see me in action tomorrow?" she asked them, her demeanor getting more chipper. The others looked at her in confusion, making Lynn`s happy face drop "What are you starring at? I`m talking about my baseball match.", "Wait didn't you have that yesterday?" Lana asked scratching her head, Lynn frowned further " No that was my soccer match! Did you guys pay any attention to what I was saying all week for crying out loud!"
"Wow there, calm down Lynn, it's just that you attend so many of these sports even that we can't even keep track of it all." Luan said defensively, Lynn huffed "Of course I do, how else do you expect me to nourish my natural talent, I have a big future as an athlete..." Lynn started boasting "...and you all can see me doing just that tomorrow at noon.", "Tomorrow noon?" Luan said "...actually we kind of made other plans for that." she admitted sheepishly, Lynn was taken of guard hearing that "What other plans?" the tomboy asked angrily.
"They all said that they would take me to the zoo." Lana happily revealed their plans, Lynn felt dumbfounded "The zoo?You honestly want to go gawk at some stupid animals rather then go support me when I need you?" she glared at Luan "Please tell me this is one of your bad jokes?", Luan felt a bit offended by that remark but stayed calm "Its not, we`re planning on going there tomorrow, and why does this bother you, we`ve watched you play sports before?", unknown to them that remark hit a nerve with the 12 year old, "Yeah a few times, but otherwise none of you ever bothered to go and give me support when I needed you.." "Well excuse us for having our own lives." Lucy spoke out of nowhere "Pipe down Lucy!" Lynn ordered her "Its not like any of you are so busy that you can't take some time of to be there for me, expect for Lincoln who`s too preoccupied being a butthurt baby." she intentionally shouted the last part for him to hear, Lincoln clenched his fists, but didn't let himself get triggered.
The other sisters felt a tinge of guilt so Luan spoke up "Lynn we`re sorry that we can't be there tomorrow, but try to understand that we're doing this so we can spend time together as a family, besides the fact how our parents divorcing tore us apart in more ways than one, we all had really rotten days today and we finally talked together about our problems, it got really emotional and frustrating, and..." "Oh I get it, because you guys had some lousy day, you all want to go somewhere quiet to talk about your feelings and junk like that?" the athlete accused them , "Its not really that it's..." Luan was interrupted again when the tomboy let out a frustrated groan "Ughhhhh why do you guys have to act like such girls? You're not helping Lincoln by encouraging him to be a whimp!", the boy grew more frustrated, and so did Lucy "In case you failed to notice, we are girls." the little goth raised her voice "And there's nothing shameful about sharing your emotions. Boiling them up on the inside only fuels your frustration and feeds your inner demons.".
" Oh spare me you're vampire poetry Duchess of Darkness, your just a little kid and you don't know anything." Lynn scolded her demeaningly, but the goth didn`t back down "And you're claiming to "know something" besides sport, well your grades don't support that. At least me and Lincoln never walk the tight rope of being held back." , seeing the 7 year old developing a light smirk after having effectively called her big sister stupid made Lynn boil. Noticing this Luan stepped in and pushed Lucy back "Okay girls let's not blow this out of proportions." she laughed nervously trying to ease the situation, "Oh no Luan, if the pale faced shrimp wants to say something, then let her!" Lynn demanded in a challenging tone, Luan tried to keep Lucy quiet, but she spoke anyway "You're nothing but an obnoxious, selfish bully! That's what I wanted to say!", Lincoln turned around surprised, but also feeling proud of his little sister, but then he saw Lynn making a dry laugh.
Then she got defensive "Oh I`m being selfish here? Why can't you just come to watch my match as your family activity?", Luan frowned "Its not really a family activity if you're the center of attention and we just sit on the sidelines.", "Oh but obeying the request of little miss animal lover does count,huh?" Lynn argued aggressively, making the little blonde look down, feeling ashamed, getting frustrated Luan came to her defense "It does, because this is something we can all enjoy together, plus she earned it after what she did today.", "Oh and what did she do? Build the greatest mud castle you`ve ever seen!" Lynn said sarcastically, before grimacing "Meanwhile I`ve been busting my hump for years trying to make my dream come true and none of you give a crap! Some family you are you selfish, spineless hypocrites!"
"Oh you're just full of it aren't ya Lynn?" Lincoln shouted as he walked towards them. "Oh look, someone learned to talk again." Lynn snarked as Lincoln came to her and looked up to face her "Please tell me? When was the last time you did anything for any of us without having some self serving motive? Cuz all I can remember is you throwing your weight around and being a passive agressive bully with no consideration for your families well being." he looked at the others "And if any of you can share some fond memories you had with Lynn, we`re all ears!".
"Well I certainly can't." Lucy was quick to side with her brother, Lisa finally spoke up "No offense Lynn, but I never really admired your passions or your mental prowess.", Lana scratched her head trying to think of any "Dad said we were both tomboys, but Lynn never spent much time with me, she said she didn't like mud or animals or fixing stuff." she admitted, Luan tried to think of any "Sorry, but I draw a blank." she said sadly. "And I rest my case.." he turned back to face the jock "...ya know Lynn I thought an athlete of all people should know that there is no "I" in "team", but I guess you don't.", glaring down at him Lynn finally lost it and pushed him to the floor "Shut up you prissy whimp or I'll..." Lynn shouted before trying to regain her composuser as the others looked at her in shock, "Spoken and acted like a true bully..." Lucy grimly commented, Lynn turned towards them, her face turning red "Shut up! All of you! I`m not a bully and you guys are just ganging up on me! Is it all because you're jealous over me being tough and you all being ain't my fault if you all are too whimpy to keep up with me and act like babies when I play a little ruff with you.", she heard Lincoln laugh at that as he rose up.
"Are you seriously using that excuse now?" he bitterly snarked "You really are a bully, you can't even take criticism without loosing your shit!" Lynn growled "How about I beat the shit out of you?" she charged at Lincoln, but Luan grabbed her arm trying to hold her back, Lucy arrived and stood defensively in front of Lincoln, Lisa came to Lynn holding a small mechanical device "Please don't force me to use my home made taser." the genius warned her in her stoic tone.
Lynn swatted Luan away from her, but she had calmed down enough not to do something she would regret, "Lynn why were you trying to hurt Lincoln?" Lana asked, getting teary eyed and yanking Lynn by her shirt "Becase that's what bullies do! They want to show of and belittle and beatdown on those they view as inferior." Lincoln cried as he moved past Lucy and Lisa to confront Lynn "And like I said I won't give them the satisfaction of seeing me down."
As she was faced with angry, disapproving or in Lana`s case saddened glares, Lynn snapped "I`ve had it with you jerks, if you wanna whine and make fun of me then I`m out of here!" Lynn stormed out of the apartment, as she went down the stairs Lincoln shouted after her "Runnnig away from your mistakes, real mature!","Lynn wait, don't go!" Lana cried going after her, but had her hand grabbed by Lincoln "Forget her. If she wants to be like that let her be." Lincoln said angrily as he led his sister back to the apartment. As Lincoln brought Lana back the siblings spotted their father parking his van trough the window, "Ah dad`s probably going to be very happy to hear about what we`re doing right now." the boy spoke in a more relaxed tone, Lucy joined him and Lana at the window "Yeah, but you must also tell him about your problem.", Lincoln frowned after being reminded of that "Oh yeah sure..." , "Don't worry Linky we`ll all have your back." Luan reassured him, Lincoln in return gave his sisters a thankful smile.
...
Lynn kicked an empty can as she walked down the street , under the sunset ,with her hands in her pockets until she saw and set down on a bench near a playground. "Stupid brother...stupid,selfish sisters...they gang up on me to let out their frustration, but they`re all equally at fault." Lynn was still mad, when she got mad, she was mad as hell, but underneath all of that rage she was upset, upset over the things her siblings said about her, what Lincolnn said about her, that her only brother would just turn on her like that, that one word kept ringing in her mind "Bully...I`m not a bully...not a bully...they`re overblowing things...I`m not a bully..." , she kept saying that in her mind, at this point it was as if she wanted to convince herself of that. Then she picked up the faint sound of crying, curious she moved trough the playground until she saw a small concrete soccer field nearby and on it she saw two kids, around 8 or 9 years in age, covering on the ground while a third one was desperately trying to catch his soccer ball which was tossed back and forth by two older boys. Lynn moved in closer.
Taylor caught the ball, "Come now Mike, don't ya wann it back?" he teased the 9 year old before tossing the ball over him and to his buddy who had one hand hidden behind his back, " Please give it back, it's my third one and dads gonna be mad if I loose it too." the boy was begging Lyle who looked at the ball, seemingly in deep thought "True, you do have a bad habit of loosing soccers. Why is that anyway?" Lyle pondered before revealing a jagged rock in his other hand and puncturing the ball "Oh yeah, cuz I keep popping them, must have slipped my mind!". He threw the deflated soccer into Mike`s face, who then held it in his hands as he started tearing up, Lyle rolled his eyes "Oh spare me the water works you big baby" he groaned as he forcefully pushed Mike down, "Yeah it ain't our fault that you whimps can't play some hardball." Taylor laughed. After hearing that Lynn became enraged and made up her mind on her next course of action, "But you said those same things an hour ago...no I didn't shut up!" she started arguing with herself.
"But enough ball play, let's see what treats you brought me today." Lyle hoisted Mike up by his leg and started pillaging his pockets only to find nothing, " They`re empty!" he growled as he let the boy fall back down, "I`m sorry, but my parents won't let me carry money, because you keep taking it." the boy pleaded while Lyle grew increasingly frustrated "You're completely usele..." suddenly Lyle was struck in the back and thrown into Taylor. "Why don't you pick on someone your own age you cowards." Lynn growled ready for a fight, Taylor pushed Lyle of him, as he rose up to look at the girl the younger kids took the distraction to run away.
"Like you dollface? Taylor exclaimed playfully, Lynn narrowed her eyes "Call me that one more time and I'll twist you into a pretzel!" she growled at the bully, "What kind of a lame threat is that ?" Taylor quipped without showing an ounce of fear, in his mind he kept thinking that this girl looked familiar, until he finally remembered a particular family photo which made him burst out into laughter "Can you belive this Lyle, the freakshow was too scared to come for a rematch, so he sent a girl to get his payback." Lynn was confused by that statement and so was Lyle, "Eh I don't geczy? the brown haired boy said dumbly making Taylor facepalm, he grabbed Lyle and whispered into his ear "She`s Lincoln Loud`s sister, but don't let her know that we know, just in case..." "Oh...now I geczy." Lyle finally understood.
"I`m warning ya, stop pestering those kids or you'll face the fury of Lynn Loud." the boys snickered at her threat "Oh come now tuts, there's no need to fight, what did we ever do to you?" Taylor asked sweetly, intentionally testing her, "Nothing, but I don't appreciate douchebags like you brutalizing the neighborhood.", Taylor struggled to keep a straight face, this girl honestly didn't know that they whooped her brothers ass twice already, "She doesn't know it Lyle...she honestly doesn't know " the two boys started snickering which greatly enraged Lynn "What don't I know, tell me!", Taylor found her ignorance more and more amusing.
"That`s for us to know and for you to find out. But seriously now sweetheart you shouldn't be here, this rough neighborhood is no place for a delicate lady like you, so just skip back home to powder your nose and style your hair." Taylor smirked as he saw her enraged reaction, Lynn furiously swung her fist at his face, but Taylor caught it with his hand and twisted her arm, "Uh feisty!" Taylor quipped as he kicked her in the gut and sent her flying for several feet until she hit the hard concrete."When did boys get this tough?" she thought as she winced with pain, "Guess she wasn't ready for the furry of Taylor and Lyle!" "Its fury you dumbass.", as she heard them laugh at her, her ensuing anger quickly loaded her back to full strength.
In the blink of an eye she charged at Taylor, punched him in the gut and had him pinned down, but once she tried to punch his lights out he grabbed her fist and held it back, "Eh a little help Lyle." the black haired boy asked almost jokingly, Lynn was soon hoisted up in a choke hold, but she sank her teeth into Lyle`s arm who screamed and let her go, Lynn swiftly stomped his foot and elbowed him in the gut, she saw Taylor in the corner of her eye and dodged him, causing him to punch Lyle in the gut instead, making him collapse, "Ehh...sorry dude." Taylor blurted out embarrassingly before turning back to Lynn.
They ran at each other and Lynn managed to grab hold of his head, as she held him down she managed to deliver one punch to his gut before Taylor wrapped his arms around her torso and started crushing her in a bear hug, Lynn tried to break free but he proved to be too strong, "What's wrong? Don't all dates start out with a passionate hug?" Taylor snarked before Lynn knocked her head into his forcing him to let her go.
Now sweety and exhausted Lynn was starting to worry, this fight was a lot harder than she expected. Taylor charged at her again, she ducked several of his puches, before she grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards her knee which collided with his stomach, however Taylor grabbed hold of her hand and soon had it twisted against her back, sucking up the pain Lynn kicked the boys shin and in one swift motion decked him in the jaw. Taylor stumbled back, holding his bruised jaws before starting to chuckle and smile at the girl "Nice jab Lindsay, you got some nice moves, but let's see how long they'll help you last."
"The names Lynn, and you haven't seen half of it." she shot back as they circled each other, both sweaty and their faces becoming red, "It will be a plesure to find out, but don't think you can beat me, I rule this neighborhood cuz 1) I`m stronger and (2...I have back up. Lynn suddenly remembered Lyle who, as if on que, grabbed Lynn from behind and held her in a bear hug, Taylor charged and delivered one punch to her gut, but Lynn mustered up the strength to kick him in the chest with her feet and jolt him back, still in Lyle`s grip Lynn made a foward roll with Lyle taking the brunt of the concrete and acting as her cushion, but no sooner was she free Taylor grabbed hold of her pony tail, Lynn screamed as she felt her hair being pulled while Taylor swung her around, loosening her hair tie in the process, "Lyle be ready!" he shouted as he swung her back, her hair tie came of and Lynn found herself spinning around before catching a glimpse of Lyle and immediately after feeling a blow to her gut. As she fell she tried to get up Lyle punched her in the back with both fists, knocking her back down.
Acting quickly Lyle grabbed hold of her legs and Taylor grabbed her arms as they lifted her up, Lynn squirmed as she was carried of, but was soon dropped on the platform of a merry-go-round, "Hang tight doll, this will the ride of your life!" Taylor exclaimed as he and Lyle started spinning the platform until it and Lynn turned into a spinning blurr, "The ride ends once we see ol`faithful blow some puke!" Taylor joked, but soon regretted it as the merry-go-round started squirting vomit in all directions like a garden sprinkler. The bullies backed away causing the thing to soon slow down, Taylor grabbed one of it's handles to stop it, Lynn finally got up, with her long brown hair now looking like a fright wig, she quickly dropped to the ground dizzy and disoriented, with everything around her spinning around or splitting into two, with her unable to fight Taylor picked her up bridal style "Aww the pretty lady got sick, we have to find her a resting place.".
By the time Lynn finally regained her senses it was too late as she heard Taylor chanting in a sing-song voice "A one, a two, a stinks to be you!" with that he tossed her into a dumpster, the foul stench waking her up for good. She heard the bullies high five each other and leave while laughing and making fun of her, this made her blood boil, no way was it ending like this, these bastards would not get the best of her. Lynn pulled herself out of the dumpster, ignoring the gut wrenching smell that now came from her, she yelled after the bullies "Hey you cowardly assholes, this fight isn't over, not by a long shot!".
By the time Taylor and Lyle managed to turn around she was already running at them, "That bimbo still wants more?" a confused Lyle blurted out, "She`s determined, I give her that." said Taylor as the two ran after her, but she suddenly made a turn and ran into the playground "Catch me if you can you ass faced buffoons!" she mocked them, causing them to chase after her. She ran under the monkey bar and lifted herself up, as Lyle lunged at her she delivered one hard kick into his face, knocking down, however Taylor grabbed her right leg from behind and pulled her down. As she hit the ground Lynn quickly rolled on her back, dragging Taylor down as he was still grabbing on, using her free leg she kicked Taylor in the side of his head and slammed it against the bar.
As he clutched his head in pain Lynn got up and delivered a powerful punch to his face, with his cap flying of Taylor collapsed in front of a swing and ceasing the opportunity Lynn grabbed one of it`s seats and lifted it. As Taylor rose up he had no time to move as the swing struck him and sent him tumbling for several feet. Lynn looked at him laying on the ground, she smirked to herself before suddenly being tackled by Lyle. He pinned her under his weight and grabbed her throat with one hand and clenched the other into a fist.
"Say goodbye bitch!" he growled as he swung his fist towards her face, a stupid move as Lynn easily dodged her head making Lyle`s fist collide into the concrete, making a sickening crunch. The boy hollered with pain as Lynn freed her feet and kicked him in the jaw, dislodging one of his teeth. As he feel back Lynn rose to her feet, so did Lyle, but he was clutching his left hand and had blood dripping down from where one of his lower incisors used to be. As he and Lynn made eye contact Lyle`s eyes filled with fear as he suddenly bolted away as fast as his legs could carry him. Lynn stood there triumphantly "Yeah I beat those idiots, they just got a taste of girl power! My siblings will beg me for forgiveness after they hear how I wooped two local bullies, especially Lincoln, he`s a prime target for these kinds of thugs. "
But it wasn't over, because then Lynn heard an enraged and almost primeval sounding growl, she turned to see Taylor rising up to his feet, it was almost hard to make out in the dim light of the upcoming dusk, and letting out a downright bestial battle cry, he then turned to her, growling with gritted teeth and his chest rising and closing rapidly to suit his heavy breathing while his eyes, one of which had a visible dark bruises around it, showed pure rage. The sight actually struck fear into Lynn as it looked like she was faced with a crazed animal. But then she narrowed her eyes, showing a look of determination, as Taylor let out another enraged cry before charging at her, Lynn charged at him.
Taylor grabbed her hands, and they wrestled for a moment while hand locked, before Taylor twisted her arms and slammed her body against his colliding knee, he hoisted her up by one hand and delivered a second hit to her gut before throwing her over his shoulder. As soon as she hit the ground she was immediately hoisted up again and received one and then another punch to her left cheek, before being let go. Suking up the pain, Lynn charged at him in blind rage but he dodged her attack and Lynn was pulled back by her hair before Taylor slammed his fist into her back. She fell down face first, and soon felt Taylor`s knee diving into her back as he had her pind down before he started twisting her right arm behind back, Lynn started hissing in pain, but couldn't break free from his grip, then Taylor finally spoke.
"Unless you want me to test the breaking point of your arm`s flexibility you'll admit defeat, with a little begging for mercy for extra flavor." "Fat...chance..." Lynn hissed trying to deal with the pain, but Taylor wasn`t kidding around, he kept twisting it further and further, as the agonizing pain started registering in her mind more Lynn`s survival instinct finally trumped her foolish pride, "Alright I surrender..." she cried feebly, but Taylor didn't oblige, "...mercy...please mercy..." Lynn finally uttered those accursed words, but like a magical spell they finally relieved the pressure on her arm. Once the pain was gone Lynn layed on the ground trying to catch her breath, before she turned around to see Taylor`s shadowy outline looming over her against the dusk sky.
"Well bimbo I hope you learned a valuable lesson...if you mess with the tiger, you get the claws." he said coldly, before kneeling down to her eye level " I kicked your ass twice..." his glare pierced into her "...are you still in the mood for round three?", Lynn couldn't find her voice so instead she just shook her head, Taylor sneered "Thought so." and without saying another word he grabbed his cap and disappeared down the dimly lit alley. When Lynn finally got up, she slowly started walking towards her home while hugging herself, her usual spitfire self no longer seemed to be there, replaced by normal and frightened 12 year old girl.
...
It was 8 pm. when Lynn finally reached the families apartment, given what had happened, she just wanted to slink of into her bed undetected, but as soon as she opened the door she was meet with her fathers angry glare " in the world have you been! Do you know how late is, I was worried sick..." her fathers harsh tone suddenly softened "...wait a minute, how did you get that awful smell? And my god, how did you get those bruises?" Lynn covered her left cheek and started speaking in an uncharacteristically weak tone "I`m sorry dad, it's just...I got caught up with my baseball training and lost trak of time, and...I accidentally hit myself with a bat and fell into a pile of trash cans.", her father pinched the bridge of his nose "Lynn you have to stop being so reckless and callous, look what I it did to you today and next time it could be a lot worse." Lynn looked away feeling terribly ashamed "I`m sorry, I`ll try to be more careful next time." she meekly promised. Being in a good mood after what he heard from his other children (most of it anyway) Lynn Sr. felt willing to let things slide this time, he only told Lynn to clean herself up and told her how the rest of her siblings were in Lucy`s, Lana`s and Lisa`s room reminiscing about their fondest memories, since Lincoln lost his photo album.
Lynn spent as little time as possible in the shower, once she was clean she clothed herself without taking a single look in the mirror. She passed by the younger sisters room and heard her siblings talking, but she didn't stay to ear drop, she went straight to her room, however one of her siblings did notice her. Lynn lied down in her middle bunk, every part of her was hurting, her pride, her body and her sole, she almost wished for the ground to swallow her up and let her die, but then she heard a small voice.
"Lynn you`re back..." Lana exclaimed cheerfully"...you have to come with me and talk to the others, they're all in the next room.", Lynn tiredly poked her head up "I`m sorry Lana, but I'm too exhausted, I need to sleep." the jock spoke feebly, "Lynn are okay? You sound weird. Plus you have to come and make up with the others!" Lynn really wanted to be alone right now, summoning all her will power she forced a smile and a happy voice "Look squirt I`m okay, I`m just really tired from my training and I really need to sleep, I`ll talk to the others tomorrow I promise.", Lana felt something was of, but in the end she respected her big sisters wishes "Okay if you say night Lynn." with that the little blonde reluctantly left, not seeing Lynn curl up and shed tears...
And we're done with chapter 4, before anyone accuses me of this, I said this won't be a hate fic or a torture fic and I stand by it, yes Lynn receive a strong beating in this, but it wasn't contrived torture for the sake of catharsis, it's played for realism, Lynn is cocky and brash and decided to give some vigilante justice against the local bullies, but in real life even if you`re tough and know how to trade blows, picking up fights with random thugs can still easily end with you getting your ass creamed or worse...this ain't a DC or Marvel comicverse, likewise "Big Sister Instincts" won't give Lynn an edge either when she inevitably learn that those same bullies had assaulted Lincoln. Ultimately this experience is meant to give her a better perspective on how the world works.
Anyway the posting of new chapters will likely continue with this slower pace, given real life issues and all that, but I'll still try to post new chapters at roughly a weekly basis, no promises though, till next time...