Hello all. I bring you the next chapter in "Finding Who Was Lost". This time we check back in with Richard and Lincoln as they both get a break from the apocalypse happening outside. I might start doing some smaller stories and one-shots while I finish this one up. So read on and I hope you guys enjoy

disclaimer: I own nothing from The Loud House.

Song Lyrics- Tragic Truth by Five Finger Death Punch

Break From It All

present day

Lincoln woke up two hours after falling asleep in his new room. He looked at the clock and saw that it was half past four in the afternoon. Rubbing his eyes, he took in his surroundings, his room looked surprisingly nice compared to the one he had at his house. There was a painting of a sunset on the wall across from his bed, and there was a wooden dresser underneath it, with five drawers, two on each side and one long drawer on the bottom.

Walking over to a door next to it, Lincoln opened it to find a closet with an assortment of clothes. They were all close to his size. He assumed this was the kid's room, his gaze cast down as he thought about how they felt, knowing they couldn't get here.

There was a desk with a journal resting on the middle of it, Lincoln opened it but there was nothing written in it. Lincoln looked back to the bed, it wasn't anything special. The mattress was firm enough and the pillow was comfortable, there were blue sheets with a neutral white beneath them. Lincoln looked down to the holster around his waist and undid it, laying the gun and holster on the desk.

Remembering where the bathroom was Lincoln walked to the other side of the hall, turning back to shut off the lights in his room before heading out. Opening the door to the bathroom, Lincoln turned the lights on and saw how plain the bathroom looked. The floor was filled with off white tiles and the wall was painted with a light shade of beige. There was a wooden vanity on the left wall it had two drawers on the side and one door on the left side of those.

The vanity had a white sink built into it, with a nickle colored faucet. There was a toilet towards the back of the room on the right side with a wastebasket to the left of it. A ceramic towel rack was nailed to the right wall and there was a step-in shower finishing off the room on the left. "Geez with how rich these guys were they certainly didn't really care much about interior design".

Lincoln shut the door before he walked over to the toilet, lifting the lid and undoing his pants. Sitting down on the toilet he winced in pain as he tried to go, finding that the damage Jim had done to him yesterday still hadn't healed yet. "Goddamnit! Fucking Jim." Lincoln said to himself. The inside of his ass was still sore from the day before. Jim made sure to punish Lincoln hard for trying to kill himself. "Listen here you little asshole, I say when you die! I say when you've had enough. You are mine and you don't get to leave in any way until I'm done with you." Jim said, with each painful thrust he gave Lincoln. Not to mention the beating he gave Lincoln afterwards.

It wasn't the worst time he had with Jim but it was pretty close to it. He had come so close to being free, but Jim wouldn't let him. Now he was actually kind of thankful for that, if he had died he wouldn't have this chance to find his family. He was given a second chance at a good life and he wasn't going to waste it.

Lincoln looked to the shower as he flushed the toilet and decided he was long overdue for the warm, relaxing rush of water. Lincoln looked to the rack next to him and saw three towels hung on it. Grabbing the blue towel, Lincoln set it on the top of the vanity as he started taking off his clothes, turning the water on so it would warm up before hand. Lincoln stepped in and felt a wave of relief as the warm water rushed over him. He missed this feeling, he actually started to cry as he felt a sudden wave of emotion rush over him.

Lincoln wrapped his arms around himself as crouched down in the shower, his mind flashing to the weeks in that hotel. Not just the days and nights with Jim, but with some of his people too. Men, women, they all used him and he felt sick, his skin crawled as he tried to scrub it all away. His skin turned red as he tried to erase the unclean feelings radiating from his body.

But he knew there wasn't much he could do about it. The physical scars would heal within a short amount of time, but the feelings, the emotional scars, would take a lot longer, and still never completely go away. He'd just have to find a way to move past them, to manage them. Lincoln sucked it up as he turned the water off, grabbing the towel to dry himself off.

Lincoln returned to his room as he grabbed a new set of clothes out of the dresser and closet. He put on a new pair of pants and a simple orange t-shirt, he was glad most of this kid's clothes were his favorite color.

Lincoln opened up the backpack he had as he took out the various supplies he gathered. He had already stored the food and drinks he took for himself in the kitchen and had only the personal things he took for himself.

He pulled out a few comics, which he was surprised they found there, among a few random toys he found. Lincoln took out something that he cared about the most, a mp3 player with a pair of earbuds. Lincoln looked at the music stored on it while him and Rich were walking here and saw that the owner was a fan of rock music. It made him think of his sister and he would cherish this until he found her.

Lincoln walked out of his room and looked into Richard's room. When Lincoln saw that he wasn't there he contemplated on whether to snoop or go find Rich. "Do it… I bet he's hiding things in there that he doesn't want you to see." "Go away… well I guess I could take a quick look". Lincoln opened the door wider as he stepped inside. The room was the same as Lincoln's excluding some posters that Rich must've found outside, and new bed sheets.

There was a footlocker that looked like the ones you'd see in those Fallout games, Rich didn't have any lock on it though. "Hm, he must've thought it was unnecessary as he was living alone". Lincoln opened it up to find a small safe inside, it looked like it was keycode protected so he didn't even try to open it. He saw what looked like a photo album underneath the safe, and he looked at a few of the pictures before putting it back. "He looked so happy with them. I hope his family is out there too".

There were more things in the locker but Lincoln didn't want to snoop more than he should. He noticed a necklace wrapped around one of the bedposts and examined it. There were a couple charms around a red capsule, Lincoln was about to try and open it but stopped when he saw "Grandpa" written on one of the charms and put it back around the bedpost. Understanding what it was as a sad expression formed on his face.

Lincoln noticed a locked box on top of the desk, it kind of looked like a clipboard. Lincoln looked around for a key and found it in the second drawer of the desk. Lincoln held the key up to his face before looking back at the locked case. "Oh come on, we both want to know more about him and his past. Just. Open. It"

"B, but I shouldn't be prying into his personal space like this! Just taking a quick look was fine but I shouldn't be snooping this much". "Fine then, just open it at least, we don't need to take or search through whatever is inside, but I still at least want to know". "Alright just a quick look". Lincoln cringed as he felt bad about doing this, but something inside him needed to know. He turned the key in the lock, popping it open and finding a journal strapped inside, with an assortment of writing tools in the pockets on the left side.

Lincoln stared at the journal beneath him, it had writing on the front: Richard's Journal, started March 3rd 2018 ended-. "Ooooohhhhh jackpot! now we're talking! These are his personal thoughts. And by the looks of the writing, he's still writing in it. Open it". "No! I agreed to just seeing what was inside but this is too far, he could come in at any minute and then who knows how mad he'd be. I'm not digging into his own personal thoughts like this". "Ugh fine".

Lincoln locked the journal back up and stopped his searching when he heard music coming from the dining area.

Walking down the hallway, Lincoln heard the song end as a new one had started, he heard Rich singing along as Lincoln started chuckling to himself. "Oh this should be funny"

I'm drowning in the bottom of a bottle

running from a man I swore I'd never be.

no one ever has to face tomorrow

But I'm the one who has to face… me.

It's the deeemons I've created for myself

The Tragic Truth.

It's hard for me to understand myself

so it has to be Hard as hell for you

for you, yoouuuu!

Are we born to be broken?

Sinners and theeiiives

(someone tell the heavens, I'm ready to escape! You!)

This is not what I wanted not what I neeeed.

(Take it all, tear it all, Rip it all awaayyyyy!)

Lincoln stopped at the end of the hallway as he watched Richard dancing in the kitchen while stirring a pot on the stove. He was lost in the music and Lincoln didn't want to interrupt him. He looked too happy, but Lincoln could also sense an aura around him, like this had some personal meaning to him. Surprisingly enough Rich had a decent voice.

I can't say the devil made me do it

I chose to be the one I am, the way I am today

I wish there was but

there's no way around it

In the end I made the choice and will not die ashamed!

It's the vooooiiices screaming in my head

the traaaagic truth.

It's hard for me to understand myself

So it has to be hard as hell for you. For you, Yooouuuu!

Are we born to be broken?

Sinners and theeiiives

(someone tell the heavens, I'm ready to escape! You!)

This is not what I wanted not what I neeeed.

(Take it all, tear it all, Rip it all awaayyyyy!)

Take it all tear it all take it all tear it all away

Lincoln continued to listen to the lyrics as Richard sang along with them. Lincoln could hear the passion in his voice and he could see the relation Rich had to this song. It was a little bit more heavy than Lincoln was accustomed to but he began tapping his foot and even began playing the air guitar as the solo began.

Are we born to be broken?

Sinners and theeiiives

(someone tell the heavens, I'm ready to escape! You!)

This is not what I wanted not what I neeeed.

(Take it all, tear it all, Rip it all awaayyyyy!)

Are we born to be broken?

Sinners and theeiiives

(someone tell the heavens, I'm ready to escape! You!)

This is not what I wanted not what I neeeed.

(Take it all, tear it all, Rip it all awaayyyyy!)

Take it all, tear it all, rip it all tear it all away!

Someone tell the heavens to take it all! Tear it all awaaaaay!

The music faded away as Lincoln walked behind Richard and made his presence known. "Uummm hey Rich whatcha doin?" Lincoln asked him with a coy smile, trying his best not to laugh. Richard jumped in the air as he dropped the ladle into the pot and turned around to face Lincoln. "Jesus Christ Lincoln don't scare me like that!" Rich said as he held a hand up to his chest. "I guess I'm gonna need to get used to having someone else here...".

Lincoln started laughing as Richard calmed his breathing. He turned back, shaking his head and turning the phone off before grabbing the ladle from the pot. He began stirring the pasta he was making, looking at the timer and seeing it had five more minutes left.

Sighing, Richard took a jar of sauce out of the cabinet above his head, twisting the cap open and leaving it on the counter. "You making spaghetti Rich?" Lincoln asked as he looked into the pot, seeing the noodles stirring in the boiling water.

"Yeah… I was going to make something better for your first night here but didn't really feel like I could make some of the stuff in this recipe book right. But I sure as hell can make this".

Lincoln smiled at Rich as he turned and walked over to the TV, looking at the various consoles and games Rich had stacked there. Lincoln just stared in amazement at the amount that was there. "Rich is all this yours? Cause if so you're even crazier than I thought". "Well the consoles aren't mine, I'm not that crazy… well at least I think I'm not. The switch is mine, and some of the physical games there are mine. Most of my games are stored on those hard drives next to the Xbox and PlayStation 4. The total amount is above 300 between the three systems".

Lincoln looked at him with an eyebrow raised and a look that screamed "you're crazy". "Hey don't judge. like I said, now I have enough entertainment and supplies to last me my whole life here".

Lincoln sat down on the couch in front of the TV and noticed some comics stacked on the coffee table in front of him. "Well judging by the amount here I'd say Batman and Green Arrow are at the top of his list". Lincoln noticed a few hardcover books on the second shelf and saw that there were a few survival training books as well as other paperbacks about martial arts and meditation.

Lincoln's browsing was interrupted when the timer in the kitchen went off. "Hey Lincoln it's done! Come on over and grab a plate, or a bowl, whatever you use".

Lincoln walked over to the cabinets and started opening them trying to find the dinnerware. "Oh top shelf all the way to the right, the one right next to the fridge". Lincoln opened up the cabinet and pulled out a plate for himself, and a bowl after Richard asked him for one. Richard had pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels from the cupboard on the left and poured some into a cup, mixing it with a bit of soda.

Lincoln stared at him, and Richard shrugged "Hey after yesterday I need a drink, don't judge". Rich said after smiling at him. They set their dinner down at the table and began quietly eating. There was a couple minutes of silence before Richard decided to try and start a conversation, not really enjoying silence.

"So Lincoln…" Rich began as Lincoln looked up to him with a questioning face, as he finished the spaghetti he was bringing to his mouth. "You must be some type of bad-ass to make it this far right? Tell me a bit about your journey before meeting me".

"Well the first day was one of the worst parts of all this..." Lincoln told Rich about his sister Luan and the events that transpired just in that one day. "We were at that shelter for about one month before there was an accident and there were infected coming from within as well as outside after the gates somehow got opened. We made a break for it… narrowly getting out before the entire place was overrun".

"Did um...did all of you make it out of there?" Richard asked. "Well… I don't know. The only ones that weren't in our group were my dad and the McBride family I was telling you about. I, I, I don't know if they're still out there or not, and My dad he… he had my baby sister with him".

"Aaannnd now I feel like an idiot for starting a conversation like this." Rich said. "Uuummm alright tell me about your life before all this… I mean your life must've been pretty crazy with a family as big as yours".

Lincoln laughed a bit to himself as he remembered all the times he spent with his family, the good and the bad. "Well one thing I already like about this place is that there's no crazy line for the bathroom heh. But yeah home life was pretty crazy. Most of my time was spent with my sisters, helping them with their various activities".

"Did you get time for yourself?" Rich asked him. "Well yeah… maybe not as much as I would've liked, but I didn't mind. My sisters were fun to be around… most of the time." Lincoln smiled.

"Alright let me see if I can remember all of them. Let's see going from oldest to youngest: Lori? Uuhh Leni, Luna… Luan, Lynn, wait Lynn jr. Then you and then it was uuhhh". "Lu-" Lincoln began, trying to help Rich but he held his hand up. "Lucy! Uuh let's see, um the twins Lana and um, Lola?" Lincoln nodded. "And then there's your four year old Einstein, uummm Lisa! and then Lily right?" Lincoln smiled and nodded his head, surprised Rich got all of them, for the most part.

"Yes! High five" Rich held up his hand as Lincoln returned it. They told each other more about themselves, favorite movies, shows, games etc. and found that they had a bunch in common, and some things that were… completely opposite choices.

"Ok while I can see your argument that Tim Drake is the best Robin, I believe that title goes to Dick Grayson. I mean he was so good at being Robin that when he went off on his own as Nightwing he was even better. I feel like he's not only the most qualified to take over Batman's mantle but with who he is as a person he could even be better. He's in my top ten list of heroes". "Oh come one Rich, Tim's detective skills are only rivaled by Batman himself and he has proven that he's just as skilled a fighter as any other. And he even started being his own hero when he became Red Robin".

"Alright look we could sit here and argue all night about this among other things but I guarantee we can both agree on one thing." Rich said. "And that would be?" "That Jason Todd is a much better Red Hood than he was Robin, he was the worst". Lincoln and Rich started laughing as they remember how Jason acted compared to everyone else and they agreed that he was bad from start to finish while Damian wasn't much better at the start, but he evolved into a better sidekick.

Richard looked to the clock and saw that it was seven o clock, and he had an idea to make this day even better for Lincoln. "Alright let's go". Rich said as he put the dishes up and had Lincoln follow him over to the couch. "Alright I have over three hundred games here between these physical copies and my hard drives. Pick something and we'll see who's better".

"You're on, I'm gonna win, no contest". "Aaahhh Daniel-San you are messing with the master, and this is my dojo. My skills might be too much for you young Padawan". "Alright one you just mixed to different movies together and two, my skills are the best around, there was barely anyone who could beat me".

"Well then Mr. big talk, pick a game and we'll see who the best is". Lincoln scrolled through the list of games on the xbox and found one that he was sure to beat Rich in. "Oooohhhh Lincoln you don't know what you just started… fighting games are my specialty". Lincoln had decided on Injustice 2, and he also had a high amount of skill in this genre.

Richard picked his main: Green Arrow, while Lincoln went with Superman. "Alright I swear to god if you spam me with him you're gonna be in trouble Linc". Rich said as his laughter turned into a stern game face.

The match started and Lincoln immediately tried to blast Rich with heat vision "Oh you son of a" Rich blocked it as Lincoln kept jumping into the air and using his heat rays to zone the arena, keeping Rich back.

Rich switched his character ability to freeze arrows and hit Lincoln as soon as he touched back down, using this opportunity to get in close and unleash his combos. "Oh come on!" Rich pressured Lincoln back into a corner as his super meter maxed out, Rich finished off the first half of Lincoln's health before the next round began.

Lincoln had backed away far enough and used a piece of the environment to throw at Rich, making his character stumble back. Lincoln used this chance to spam him with a couple blasts before closing in with a few quick combos, not dealing too much damage but it was enough to keep Rich from recovering.

"Alright that's it, enough fooling around." Rich bounced off another piece of the interactive environment and switched to another freeze arrow. Lincoln dodged it but Rich was just using that as a diversion and switched to his electric arrows, missing the first one but jumping and hitting Lincoln while he was in the air.

Once he was stunned and on the ground, Richard dashed in close, switched one more time to the freeze arrows and hit Lincoln. As Lincoln was frozen Rich activated his super and sat back, setting his controller down as he knew it would finish off the last of Lincoln's health.

"Damnit. Alright again!" Lincoln shouted. "Language. Tell ya what Lincoln I'll use a character I don't use that often". "No, use your main again. I'll beat you." Lincoln replied. Rich shrugged as he once again picked Green Arrow, and Lincoln looked through the roster. Trying to find a character that he could use to beat Rich. "Alright there's only a couple characters I actually remember how to use. Taking the easy way out with superman didn't work so I guess I'll try… Batman. I might still remember his combos".

Lincoln picked Batman and Richard saw that this was gonna be a more interesting match. Setting the stage to Atlantis, Rich immediately selected his fire arrows for the most damage, before charging in to get the first hit. Richard used one of his special moves and slid across the stage, hitting Lincoln before dashing back to put some space between the two. Lincoln dashed in to close the gap and stopped just out of reach as he used Batman's special to pull Rich in close and hit him before pulling out a few combos.

After a minute of back and forth they were both close in health on their second bar. Rich had three bars of his meter filled and Lincoln had two, Rich could use a clash and get some health back but saved them to do something better. Bringing Lincoln's health down a bit more Rich burned the meter on his character ability to give him a "special" arrow.

Lincoln didn't pay attention to it as he jumped towards Rich and dashed towards him when he landed. Rich used the opportunity of Lincoln's dash to fire the arrow right at him. Lincoln looked wide-eyed as his character was just hit with an arrow… with a boxing glove on it.

"Wh, wha, what the hell was that!?" "That young Daniel-San is my favorite move, the Boxing glove arrow". Lincoln angrily exited back to the home screen and went back to scrolling through Rich's games, with a frustrated expression the entire search. "Let's see". Lincoln said as he dragged out the "e". Lincoln's gaze fell on a racing game, Forza Motor-sport 5. "Well alright this ones no contest… you're gonna win, Racing and sports games are the bane of my existence and that's one of the only ones I actually left on here". Richard informed Lincoln.

"Come on Rich, what are ya chicken?" Lincoln said as he flapped his arms in imitation. "No I'll play you I'm just saying you're most likely going to win".

They booted up the game and picked their cars, starting the race. Lincoln had pushed into third place behind the computers and Rich was a couple places behind him. Rich took first place with Lincoln inching ever closer before overtaking him around a right turn. Lincoln kept his first place lead into the finish while Rich had dropped down to fourth place by the end.

"Yeah see told ya, Racing games aren't my cup of tea young master". Rich said as he bowed to Lincoln. "Eh some people are good at some genres and completely suck at others, I'm better than you at racers and you're better at fighters". "And everything else but sports". Rich muttered to himself barely enough for Lincoln to hear.

"Uh what was that Rich? You got something to say". Lincoln jokingly said, fully aware of what he said. "While you're better at racers… and maybe sports games. I'm better in all the rest". They both narrowed their eyes at each other as if they were two fighters on a versus screen.

Shooters, guitar hero, other fighting games, Rich continued to beat Lincoln, game after game. From Halo to mortal Kombat and Call of Duty to smash bros. Rich didn't let up. "Alright that's it! You're only better because you sat inside your whole life and did nothing but play games isn't that right Rich, did you ever do anything outside?" Lincoln said, unaware of just how much of an ass he sounded like.

Richard sighed as he remembered how his life was spent before 2015. Until that point Rich barely went out, didn't really hang out with anyone outside of his family and the few friends he played over Xbox with.

Rich started to bite the nail on his thumb, looking off into space as Lincoln was taken aback, realizing what he just said to Rich. "Uuuhhh hey Rich I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I was just caught up in the moment. I don't mean to criticize how you lived your life or judge you for your choices. That was bad, sorry".

Rich looked back to him and smiled. "Ah no apologies needed, I don't care much about what others say, stopped doing that a long time ago. And besides I know you didn't mean it". Lincoln and Rich fist bumped as Rich went to the kitchen to grab a soda, asking Lincoln if he wanted anything.

"Naw I'm still good with this one". Lincoln said as he pointed to his own drink on the coffee table. Richard noticed there wasn't any coaster underneath it and shouted at him to put one under it.

Lincoln jumped and hastily searched for one around but not seeing anything, starting to get worried. "Ahahahaha I'm just screwin with ya Linc. One, the coasters are stacked up here and two, I don't really care much if you don't use one. It's the apocalypse. Who cares? You shoulda seen your face!"

Rich started imitating Lincoln's worried expression as Lincoln threw a book at him, narrowly missing.

"Haha alright, alright. Anything you want to do next?" Lincoln thought about it, for the past six months, all he could think about was his family and trying to keep them alive, himself included. But now, now he didn't know where they were and while he wanted to go out there right now and start looking, he knew it was already getting dark out and that they were already two weeks ahead of where they were.

He figured he could take tonight and another day as a breather before having to face a dead ridden world. *snap *snap "Hey earth to Lincoln? You there?" Lincoln shook his head awake. "Huh? Oh yeah um I don't know, got anything good to watch?" "Well now that you mention it".

Richard went over by the door and rifled through it, pulling out some of the items that weren't important to his safety. "Before I found this place the only non essential things I kept on me were a few personal things and those hard drives. But after coming here and realizing I not only had power but the entertainment to make use of that power. I started looking for things that were and weren't essential".

Rich pulled out a stack of movies, books, and seasons of different shows. "Now I already have some stuff stored on those two bookshelves behind you and I just got these while I was out, some even from those assholes at the hotel".

Lincoln walked over to the bookcases that were six shelves high and started looking through the assortment of television series and movies that were aligned along the shelves. "Ok don't tell me you found all of this stuff while you were out?" "Well most of it was from the family before me yeah, but I found a lot of those along the way between outposts and in my travels".

"All the movies are split between the bottom three shelves and the top three have all the tv series. The bookshelf to your left is half books and comic volumes and those bottom two shelves that are empty are for more of these". Rich said as he held up more movies and series.

"Now I was extremely happy when I came across these beauties, I found them on my way to the town we came from". Rich showed Lincoln the two box sets he had, one was the entire series of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and the other was the entire series of Dragon Ball, the original series not Dragon Ball Z.

"Wow! where did you find these?" Lincoln held up the Dragon Ball set as he looked on in amazement, he watched it when he was younger but never saw the entire thing and only so much of the sequel series. "There was a video store that was a minute into town, I intend to go back there when we head back out, because I assume the camp you were taken from was close to it. We can load up on some extra supplies there and then find your old camp".

"Now I say we either watch some of that tonight or Fullmetal, your choice". There it was again. "Choice" that concept was lost to him after not having any real control over his life for longer than those monsters had him. "Hey Linc you alright? Did I say something?" Lincoln looked up to him confused until he felt it falling down his face, a tear out of his left eye.

He wiped it away as looked back up at Rich. "I, I don't even know why I started crying". Lincoln said as he felt more tears slowly rising from within.

"I'll tell ya why. From what I've seen of you, from what you've told me about your life before and after everything turned to crap. It sounds like you never really had any choices that you felt were made from your decisions. Only ones that were influenced in some way by others, now that you've finally had some freedom not only from that hotel, but from everyone else. It's a bit overwhelming isn't it?"

"Wow this guy is starting to understand you better than we do. I can see why you're starting to like him". "Y, yeah I guess he has a point, whether it was my sisters, my parents, or… Jim. My choices were never really my own. I was always making decisions that were influenced by others".

"I'm guessing I got that right? I used to be the same way, it wasn't until a year back that I started making decisions that were my own. Ones that I wanted to make. From middle school onward I didn't really have any choices that were made of my own volition, everything I did was because of or for someone else".

"Fullmetal…" "huh?" Rich asked. "I said Fullmetal Alchemist. I've never seen it but I heard good things back before… well before all this". Richard's eyes lit up. Fullmetal Alchemist, both the original and Brotherhood were in his greatest series of all time list, there were reasons Both were good.

"Aw hell yes! You're in for a treat and If I ever find the original series of this I'm showing you that too, I grew up with that one as a kid. And appreciated it much more once I got back into anime… I kinda stopped watching anime because of kids in school".

"Alright! Sit your ass down on that couch we're doing a marathon of this for let's see..." Rich looked at the clock and saw that it was almost nine. "For three hours, or how ever long until you want to go to sleep. I'm assuming you'd like to get an early start finding your family tomorrow?"

"kinda but I have also been enjoying all of this so much that I want to have at least another full day of it all… is that selfish?" Lincoln felt like he'd be letting his family down if they didn't rush out there first thing tomorrow. But also realized that his family didn't find him in those two weeks he was gone, he had hoped it was because they either just didn't find him, or saw the large amount of people and decided it wasn't safe, whether he was there or not.

"Yeah let's just stay here tomorrow. We can plan it all out but we'll head out the day after." "Sounds good. Now without further ado I present Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood".

They were up most of the night, Lincoln was immediately enthralled by the show and Richard was glad he had someone to watch it with. He loved it the first time and it was even better watching it with Lincoln.

They got done with about a quarter of the show before Rich started to get drowsy, Lincoln was starting to reach that point as well. "Alright, one… one more". Rich said as he yawned and stretched his arms out. "Awww fine, I am kinda getting tired I guess".

After finishing the episode, the boys said goodnight to each other as they went to their respective rooms. They both changed into their night clothes and nearly fell asleep as soon as they laid down.

Richard and Lincoln were walking down the road, heading to another town five miles past the place Rich found Lincoln at. "So the note at the camp said they'd wait down here right?" Richard asked Lincoln. "Yeah they said they'd stay in this town for at least a month before moving on and if I didn't show..."

They reached the town which looked pretty close to the last one they were in and started looking around for a building that would accommodate ten people.

"Hey maybe their up there. That place looks easily defensible and has more than enough space for your group". Rich pointed to a three story building at the corner of the street.

Walking up to the front of the building they pulled the door open and almost got hit by a bat that came swinging at them. "Whoa whoa watch it." Richard said as he grabbed the bat and took it from their assailant. "Hey give it back and leave us alone!" "LYNN!" Lincoln shouted from behind Rich.

"Oh so this is your sporty sister huh? ...I can see it". Lincoln ran to his sister and they both held onto each other tightly. They heard movement coming down the steps at the other side of the room and looked to the person making the noise. "Hey Lynn what's with all the noi-" Luna glanced over to the new people one being a young adult and the other, a young boy with… white hair.

"Lincoln! Oh my god! Guys get down here!"

Soon enough the rest of the family, with Ronnie-Anne came down to greet their new guests, one of them being their lost brother/son. Everyone was so happy to have the family nearly back together and cried tears of joy and were ecstatic to have each other back. "And whose this guy twerp" Lori said as she pointed to Richard.

"Oh this here's Rich, he's been helping me trying to find you guys". "Hey guys, very glad to meet you all, I've heard so much. Let me see if I can get it right… and no hints Linc".

Pointing to each of the Loud sisters Richard began naming them off. "Let's see Lori, Leni, Luna, Lynn, Lola, Lana, Lu-" Richard was cut off when a gunshot rang out and he fell to the floor, a hole in his head. "OH MY GOD! Rich!"

"Heh heh thank you Lincoln my boy..." "No! Nononono it can't be, he's dead. Richard killed him". "Did he Lincoln or was he just helping him so they could double team you? Well maybe that "was" the plan".

"Hey Lincoln. Did ya miss me?" Jim stood there, with three of his men behind him. They all held various guns, pointed at Lincoln and his family. "Alright now if no one wants to get shot I need all of you out here in ten seconds! Move it!"

One by one the family headed out into the streets, where more of Jim's men waited. "Good. You guys are as obedient as Lincy boy here once I got to him".

"Shut up! I'm not your boy anymore!" Lincoln shouted. "Hm well Lincoln if you aren't my boy then I guess I get to have someone else right?" Jim said as he started looking over each of the Loud family. Lincoln was scared, now his family is going to suffer just because he wanted to be with them again. "No! No take me, remember how good I made you feel? I'll do even better this time."

Lincoln offered, not caring how he sounded to his family, they'd know soon enough if they already didn't. "Heh well now Lincoln that does sound like a tempting offer but you I've had before, I think I want something new, well someone new haha. Ooooohhh how about you girl?" Jim said as he pointed to Lynn Jr. "NO! Take me I swear I'll give you the best time you've ever had, just please, not my family, I beg you man".

"Nah" Jim grabbed Lynn by the arm and pulled her up towards him while his men pressured everyone to stay down or they'll "kill a few and keep whoever is left". As they said.

Not even bothering to bring her inside, Jim threw Lynn face first on the sidewalk before jumping on top of her and pinning her waist down with his legs. He started ripping her shirt off as the family yelled for him to stop. Lori tried to get up but was smacked back down before she got anywhere. "Make one more move and I start killing". One of the fat men in Jim's company shouted.

Lynn was thrashing on the ground trying to get out from under Jim, who had just pulled her shorts off and had ripped her panties in two. "please stop!" she shouted. "That's it beg, that's what I want to hear".

Jim pulled his dick out of his pants as he prepared to enter her. Deciding he'd rather die than let this happen Lincoln jumped the closest guy to him and tried to get his gun. He was quickly thrown aside as his most recurring customer, Craig, came from behind him and pushed him back into the ground.

"Hey Lincoln, when you were gone I was so sad. But now you're here and we can get back to playing together, now just hold still while I take off these silly clothes. We told you that you wouldn't need them anymore dummy".

"No! Get off please not again!" Now the Loud family was forced to watch the sole male of the family and Lynn be defiled by these animals. "Hey Craig! let's go in at the same time alright?" "Yeah boss" Craig had pulled Lincoln's pants down, taking his underwear with them. "Alright one. Two. Three." they said as they both began pushing their dicks into their victims.

"AAAHHHH!" Lincoln shot out of bed and ended up falling on the floor. Hyperventilating, covered in a cold sweat and uncontrollably shaking. Lincoln couldn't concentrate on anything but his rapidly beating heart and he tried to calm down and process what just happened. "W, where am I, What happened, where's Lynn and the others?"

Lincoln's heart stopped as he heard footsteps coming from outside and he was scared of who was out there. He heard a knock at the door to the room and a familiar voice called out to him.

"Hey Linc! Buddy you okay? Can I come in?" It took Lincoln a minute but he remembered that voice, it was Richard and he was at his bunker. His heart rate was starting to calm down, and he could feel good enough to form words.

"Rich?... yeah come in."

Richard entered Lincoln's room and immediately turned the lights on. Seeing the poor boy in a sitting in a fetal position against the side of his bed. Covers a complete mess, thrown about and Lincoln's whole body shaking. He held his knees up to his chest as he started crying into his arms.

"Hey, hey Lincoln It's alright you're safe no ones here to hurt you, Jim's dead and so are all of those other mothefuckers. No one is coming after you, you are safe".

"But is my family?"

"*sigh. Alright buddy..." Rich said as he tried to sit next to Lincoln but he flinched and scooted away. "Great this is gonna take some work, come on Rich time to be a big brother." Backing off a bit Richard tried to talk to him again. "So. Tell me...what was it about?"

Without looking up at him, still holding his head between his knees, Lincoln started recounting his nightmare to Rich, who's heart broke. "Ok so in this dre- Nightmare. Jim was still alive and killed me and started...look Lincoln, that is never going to happen. Jim is dead. Gone. Burnt into oblivion, we set the fire ourselves. Everyone that was in that hotel is dead and reduced to ash I swear to you! None of that is ever going to happen to you or your family".

"B, but wh-" "Nope! No buts, your nightmare is physically impossible, it can't happen if the people who are attacking you in it are dead". Rich kept trying to reassure him. "Lincoln I'm sure that wherever they are, they are safe. I promise you, that we will find them and when we do you can protect them. Hell if you'll still have me I'll give my life for you and all of them". Richard looked at Lincoln who had finally lifted his head up, his tear stained cheeks and red eyes looking back at him. "Yeah Rich, alright" Lincoln said in a tone that Richard could tell meant "Yeah sure Rich whatever..."

"You want me to stay in here? Keep guard so you can sleep?" "You can't protect me from my dreams Rich." Lincoln deadpanned. "Oh not so little White wonder, I can help people in any realm, be it the living, the dead, or the dream world."

"Wow, what an idiot" Lincoln thought. "Hehehe alright Rich, you sure? I doubt you got enough sleep". "Oh no I'm good, I got almost four hours and I'm already here in the bunker so it doesn't matter how much I sleep. Just gotta get a better one tomorrow… well today haha". Lincoln laughed at just how much of a dork Rich was, but still, something bothered Lincoln. This dork somehow managed to blast away through over 30 guys and only come away with one gunshot wound. If anyone could keep their promise and help Lincoln it'd be him.

While Lincoln knew about that "other" side of Rich. It still felt like there was something beneath that, something much darker. He killed over 30 guys back at the hotel and possibly more before that. Richard hid a dark side and Lincoln hoped he'd never see it. He would need to ask Rich about it later though. "Ok man you go to sleep while I stand...wait sit, guard." Rich said with a smile. And with that Lincoln tried to drift off to sleep.

Not having any more nightmares, Lincoln woke up six hours later. Richard was laying on a pillow that was between him and the desk. Richard looked over at Lincoln as he woke up, glad to see that the boy didn't have any other nightmares. Rich hoped that he could do better when it came to helping Lincoln through this, he knew it was a marathon not a sprint, but that didn't mean he didn't want to accelerate the process.

"Hey there little dude. Sleep any better?" Lincoln looked over to him, rubbing his eyes as he tried to fully wake up. "Yeah I gue-" Lincoln's thoughts immediately went back to last night, waking up in a cold sweat from a nightmare. He sat up on the bed, legs dangling over the side as he looked down, not wanting to think about that horrible nightmare, but his mind had other ideas. "So Lincoln what do you want for breakfast? I have a lot more than just cereal here." Rich noticed Lincoln was deep in thought, no doubt remembering his nightmare last night, and immediately tried to get him to focus on something else.

"Wha- um I don't know, what do we have?" Lincoln asked as he slowly got off the bed. "Well come on dude, follow me and I'll show you". Richard said as he went to throw an arm around Lincoln's shoulder. But as soon as he got close Lincoln's eyes widened and he shoved him back, "No! Get back, don't touch me! I, I…" Lincoln started shaking as more images from last night came rushing back. Lincoln held his head and tightly shut his eyes as everything came back to him.

Lynn on the ground, clothes torn to shreds, while he himself was forced to the ground as his own shirt was ripped in two.

"Oooohhh fuck yeah! she's even tighter than you were in the beginning Lincoln!" Jim shouted out in ecstasy as he rapidly thrust in and out of Lincoln's sister. Craig was above Lincoln as he pulled his pants off and began fucking him into the ground at the same time, not giving any time for Lincoln to prepare.

He could hear his families cries and pleas for them to stop, while Lynn and Lincoln looked to each other. Tears in their eyes as they tried to find some comfort in the others gaze. Once Jim was finished with Lynn, leaving her in a shaking mess on the ground. He walked back over to the family to pick another victim out.

Meanwhile some of Jim's men went over to Lynn to have their own fun with her as she started screaming out again. Two men had now joined Craig in his fun with Lincoln, one taking his mouth while the other started playing with Lincoln's dick. "Wait, wait, wait. I just got the best idea." Jim said as everyone had stopped what they were doing, Jim's men pulled out of Lincoln and Lynn as they listened to him.

"So let's see here, why don't we have Lincoln here pick the next victim? And the best part about that is, he will be the one fucking them". Lincoln began coughing, trying to regain his voice to shout his protests. "No! I'm not even considering doing that shit! that's not going to happen."

"Oh is that so?" Jim had pulled Lola up from the group, aiming his gun at her head. "So here's the deal Linc. You fuck one of them or else I'll kill one of your precious sisters every time you say no to me". "Please no! Jim I'm begging you here man, please don't do this, I'll do anything, anything but that." Lincoln said as he fell to his knees, holding his hands together as he pleaded for Jim to stop.

"So is that a no I just heard?" Jim asked as he cocked the gun, before aiming it back at Lola's head. "O, ok OK! please just… stop." With tears in his eyes Lincoln looked to his mom as he prayed for her to have an answer for him, he didn't know what to do and he didn't want to and couldn't do that to anyone of them.

"Honey… It's okay. You don't have to do a damn thing for this man, we understand". His mom said to him as more tears fell from her and her son's faces. "Sorry mamma bear but if you don't want any of your kids dying then he has to".

"Just take me! Leave my children out of this and I'll satisfy all of your needs, no struggle". She pleaded. Suddenly Ronnie-Anne spoke up, deciding to make a sacrifice so no one else got hurt. "Hey Lame-o! Just take me, come on it's fine". She said as she wiped away tears. She had thought about this kinda stuff before and imagined how that would be with Lincoln, but not like this.

"Oh looks like we have a volunteer! Well come on Lincy boy let's get started".

"R, Ronnie… I, I can't. Not, not like this. I'd rather all of us die than do this to any of you!" "Lincoln don't say that. I'm giving you permission here, I'm consenting to this and I woul- I, I would love for my first time to be with you".

"Ooohhh am I sensing some type of relationship here? She may not be your sister but I'm still fine with it. Go ahead and start getting busy in the next two minutes or I start shooting".

Lincoln looked on horrified at Jim, he couldn't believe this was happening, not again. Ronnie-Anne walked up to Lincoln, standing a few feet in front of him before taking her purple hoodie off and beginning to undo her shorts. "Ronnie stop. I, I can't do this." Lincoln tried to stop her but she continued to take her clothes off.

Lincoln blushed a bit and looked away before she grabbed his head with both hands and pulled him into a kiss. Shoving him down to the ground she got on top of him before saying. "If, if you won't. Then I will" she said as she leaned down to kiss him again. The louds started looking away before Jim shouted at them to look back at the scene unfolding before them.

Ronnie had grabbed a hold of Lincoln's dick, stroking it up and down like she saw the men doing to him before. Lincoln moaned as his eyes rolled back into his head, he hated that Ronnie was forced to do this, but he had to admit that at least this was better than the other times.

"A, alright Lame-o... let's just get this over with". She said as she aimed his dick at her entrance before lowering herself down on his throbbing member.

"Noooooo". Lincoln shouted, still holding his head shaking it side to side as he screamed. "Lincoln, fucking snap out of it!" Richard said as he slapped him across the face. Lincoln was forced out of his nightmare when he felt the pain of Rich's slap. Richard placed his hands on Lincoln's shoulders and looked straight into his eyes, not caring if he had protests about Rich touching him. "Listen here Lincoln, that nightmare is never going to happen, you are safe, and I swear on my life your family is safe too. No one like that is ever going to hurt you again."

Lincoln held a hand up to his cheek as Richard continued. "listen I can only imagine the shit you had to go through in that place but all of that is behind you, none of that is ever going to happen again and especially not to your family. I know this is going to be hard to get through, but everything gets better with time and I will do my best to help you manage these issues".

Lincoln looked into Rich's eyes as he saw the sincerity in him, Lincoln felt a sense of comfort with Rich as he tried to push the thoughts of the night before from his head.

"So now back to the original subject, what do you want for breakfast? I can make some pancakes or eggs, anything you want". Lincoln looked down in thought, wiping away tears that escaped his eyes and tried calming his breathing, trying to come down from the terror in his head.

Focusing on Rich's question, throwing everything else out of his mind, his thoughts went back to his family. Happily eating breakfast around the kitchen table, everyone's plates filled with eggs, pancakes and bacon. Those breakfasts were rare but when they happened, everything else disappeared, except for the food on their plates and the smiles on their faces.

"Um c, could you make a bit of everything? You know like eggs, pancakes, bacon, the works." Richard smiled down at him. "Well yeah man I got ya covered. You want to help me? I've never really made anything but the eggs before and they were never for me hehe". Lincoln smiled back at him as he nodded, glad he could help cook something other than the stuff they had to eat out there. Wiping the tears away from his eyes before heading to the kitchen with Richard.

After a mostly successful cooking session, Rich and Lincoln had made a decent sized breakfast. Lincoln gladly ate everything they made while Richard just ate some of the hash-browns and a couple slices of Bacon.

"So Lincoln… I was thinking after we get done eating we can plan out where to start searching and try to figure out where they might've gone after the camp, cause we both know they wouldn't have stayed there after the attack". Richard said between bites of his food.

Lincoln finished the eggs he had in his mouth before replying. "Yeah Rich, that's fine with me, I know my mom mentioned something about a town we were gonna head to north of our camp". "Well we'll have to look at the map and you can tell me where the camp was, then maybe we can see which town she was talking about, maybe it was the one I found you in and they passed through it already. Hopefully they might even still be there".

Once they got done eating Rich grabbed the map and brought it over to the dining table while Lincoln went back to his room to get dressed.

"Alright so the town I found you in is this circle up here". Rich said as he brought the red marker up to the circle and drew a line from the bunker to the new outpost. "Now do you think you can find where the camp was based off of this map? Maybe any road names or area that looks familiar".

Lincoln looked over the map for a few minutes not really remembering any details about the camp's surroundings or where they broke off into the woods to make it.

Then he saw a road name he remembered and pointed to it, having Richard mark the road before trying to figure out where on the road they broke to the woods at. Going off of the legend in the bottom right corner Lincoln saw that the different shades of green on the map represented the amount of trees and vegetation that covered the area.

Thinking back to how dense the forest was around the tents they set up Lincoln deduced it was the in one of the darker shades on the map. Richard had circled all the areas that had a dense section of the woods along the road. "Do you remember where you were before the camp? Maybe a specific marker before the road or further south along it?"

Lincoln thought back, there was a small grouping of houses along the road that they held up in for a few days before moving out again. Lincoln looked at the map as he thought about how long they traveled and the distance they could've covered in that time. Tracing the road Lincoln looked made a guess based off of those variables.

"I think we were held up somewhere around here before finding the next camp". Richard drew a small circle and, based off of Lincoln's details, drew a line to the circles he made around the wooded areas. Going off of the amount of time on the road and approximate distance covered, they narrowed it down to three different sections of the woods. Two of those sections were on the left side of the road and closest to the town Lincoln was at.

"Well alright! I feel good about this, nice job detective white." Richard said as he lightly slapped Lincoln on the back. "Ok these nicknames, while a little funny are gonna get old." Lincoln said.

"Doesn't mean I'll stop using them". Richard said with a toothy grin before heading to his own room to get dressed. Lincoln decided to follow him, having some questions he needed answered.

Richard closed the door and got dressed, noticing the key he uses to unlock his journal was right next to the lock-box, his mind filled with dread. Sure he told Lincoln about his issues, but he didn't want Lincoln to know the thoughts he had in his head and how messed up his psyche really was, even if he'd gotten better since starting this.

Putting the key back in the drawer Rich was scared of what else Lincoln might've looked at and worry filled his head, there wasn't really anything bad Rich had in here but his personal space was violated. With how paranoid Rich is, breaching his personal space and his thoughts messed with him and caused him to have panic attacks, worrying him out of his mind and he couldn't think about anything else. Now those feelings were coming back.

Rich heard a knock at the door ans Lincoln asked if he was decent enough for Lincoln to come in. "Um yeah, just a minute". Richard took the key and threw it under his pillow, even though Lincoln might've already read some of his journal. He felt betrayed.

Richard opened the door and saw Lincoln with a contemplative expression, Rich was wondering what was going through his head. "H, hey Rich… do you have a minute? I had a couple things I wanted to ask you." "uh yeah, sure Lincoln come on in". Lincoln walked in and sat down on Richard's bed, hands folded between his legs as he twiddled his thumbs. "so Rich, I uh, I have something to tell you..." "Lincoln what are you doin you idiot!?" "I have to tell him, I shouldn't have been snooping around in his room invading his privacy like that in the first place". "Ugh god! Damn your bleeding heart".

"I, uh kinda rifled through your room while you were cooking dinner last night". Richard was surprised Lincoln confessed to it, well not too surprised. Lincoln seemed like a good kid so far, well even a great kid. But now he was worried of what he found or what he thinks about him. "Maybe he realized you're a piece of shit. You even forgot you were, but I never forget. And now after reading your journal I guarantee he sees you the same way".

"Listen, Lincoln was fine last night and this morning so I don't think he's worried about being around me anymore. Maybe it's about something else. I'm ignoring you again, you never have anything good to say and you always made me feel like shit. I'm better than that now".

"Oh, you did? Well I'm surprised at that, and a little betrayed. But I also can't blame you… you still don't really know me that well on a personal level beyond my secret attraction. Which only five people knew about before you. So uh did you find anything you want to talk about or?"

Lincoln pondered his questions that he wanted to know, they weren't really bad questions but they still confused Lincoln based off of what he found last night. And he wanted an answer.

"So Rich first off, I was looking through the photo album you have and I was wanting to know what happened to your family? I'm assuming that since you're here and they aren't that they're gone. But you never said what happened to them. Since I told you about mine I felt it was only fair I asked the same question."

Rich was certainly surprised by this question, he didn't expect something like this. "Well yeah I could've protected them and they would probably be here now but instead I… I left them. I abandoned them when all of this started to make some kind of stupid "blank slate". Richard started as he shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn't like thinking about this topic, he didn't like thinking about the family he left...like a piece of shit.

"You, you left them?... Why? You looked so happy with them, what reason did you have to leave that?" "Because I'm a selfish asshole that's why! All my life I played the nice guy, hiding the dark part of myself inside. I had, and still sometimes have anger issues. The way I acted, all the choices I made! All the sacrifices I gave were for them! And I decided to leave all of that because this apocalypse finally gave me the excuse to let that darkness out."

Richard was breathing heavy as he continued shouting at the top of his lungs while he answered Lincoln's question. Lincoln himself had scooted back on the bed a bit as Rich screamed at him and told him that he basically left his family on their own to survive in this apocalypse.

"That darkness inside me needed somewhere to go and I tried using my fists, letting all that anger out on a punching bag. And while that helped a bit, there were times when I felt so angry. Angry at the world, myself, god. Sometimes I was mad when I didn't even have a legitimate reason to be. basically for no reason at all. I felt so much anger and it wasn't until halfway into 2018 that I actually found a way to manage all these feelings...".

"But then, then this apocalypse happened and a switch turned in my head and I finally let this "beast" inside of me out. Killing zombies, saving people and killing those who would do others wrong. I always believed in second chances and that all life was precious, but when the dead started rising and half of my ideals and believes were gone. I still gave people the chance to walk away, showing them some type of mercy, but if they didn't then that was their choice".

"I know I must sound like some homicidal maniac but I could finally become the person I wanted to be when this apocalypse started and now I finally feel free. These past six months have been some of the best I've ever had and It's been so liberating".

"Well that kinda answered my second question too, now I get how Richard killed all those guys. It wasn't just the determination to save me. It was because he had an excuse to shoot first and not feel bad about it. An excuse to kill". "Well yeah, he's dark and scary but now I'm starting to like him. He may have psychopathic tendencies, but at least he let's it all out in a way that doesn't hurt innocent people". "But, but he enjoys it, the killing. This sheds a new light on that night. The way he talked to Jim and what he did to him. He probably liked it".

"So yeah Lincoln, that's me. I'm a psycho and I not only kill people, but there's a part of me that enjoys it, there's a part of me that wants it. I doubt you've seen it because of your age, but there's a show called Dexter and it's about a killer who only kills serial killers, rapists etc. people that avoided getting caught by police, or repeat offenders. I could kinda relate to him".

This was the first time Richard went into this amount of detail about himself to anyone and here he was spilling his guts out to a twelve year old kid. Someone he's probably scaring the shit out of right now by telling him that he's a psycho.

"So yeah there ya have it, I left my family because this apocalypse gave me the chance to stat over and become the man that I needed to be. Someone who could save people and let his dark passenger out without being tied down by the people he loved. The people he cared about. I left them so I could live out some stupid fantasy of being some type of anti-hero… I'M SUCH A FUCKING IDIOT!"

Richard fell to his knees as he started bawling his eyes out in front of Lincoln. This was it. The dam had finally broke and Richard realized how much of a stupid fuck he'd been. He threw away a perfect, loving family so he could live out a dumb dream of being a "hero" but not even close to the version he had in his head.

Lincoln just sat there. Still in shock and disbelief at just how deep Richard's darkness went, and how dark it actually was. On the surface Richard seems like a well-adjusted happy guy, with a minor attraction. But underneath that lay a dark killer, be it one that only killed other killers and criminals. Lincoln didn't know how to feel about all this, he got off of Richard's bed and stared at him as he continued to break down in front of Lincoln's eyes.

Lincoln didn't know what to do here. Rich just spilled his guts out to him and Lincoln couldn't figure out what to say. "I, I can't believe it… I lost who I used to be. I used to be a lot better than this. Better than I am. But now… now all I am is some deranged, damaged psycho who enjoys having an excuse to kill people. I never wanted to hurt anyone before and here I am killing, I… oh god I killed so many people that I've lost count".

"Rich..." Lincoln said. trying to get Richard's attention. "I, how messed up am I? How did I get to this point? Lincoln I, I don't know what to say here I, I don't know what to do anymore". Richard was a mess of tears and shaking. He felt like his body was going to go into shock at any second, there was an intense pain around his heart and he felt like he was going to vomit.

"Rich!… calm down it's fine, well I mean it's not really "fine" but you haven't hurt anyone innocent, not anyone who didn't do someone else wrong. Sure you might enjoy the killing but you know what? There are a bunch of anti-heroes who kill and they do it because they enjoy it and it keeps the bad guys from coming back".

Richard looked up to Lincoln as he started focusing on the words he was saying. "I'm not saying I condone the killing but at least you aren't killing good people. And if you really don't want to kill at all anymore then so be it, it might be hard to do but just stop. You said that you don't act on your attractions, well do the same with this. Try and stop, and be as close to who you used to be before all this. Be the person you really wanted to be".

Richard started wiping the tears from his eyes as he thought about what Lincoln was saying. "Wha- how are you like this Lincoln? I mean seriously how can you be this damn mature when you're only twelve fucking years old!?".

"I, I don't know I just am". "Well *sniff… alright um I don't know what to do now heh. That was just a very heavy moment for both of us and I think we need a new distraction". A thought crawled Richard's head. "And I know the perfect way to do it". Rich said with a wide grin.

Richard led Lincoln into the storage room and showed him the small range that was set up. "So I think it's time for a little firearms training, and this is also a good chance for you to get used to your gun". Once they expended all the excess ammo that Rich could spare, Rich checked the clock and saw that they were already halfway done with the day.

The rest of their time was spent playing more games and watching a couple movies. They didn't get into any deep or meaningful conversations because they realized that neither of them would benefit from them, so they just focused on talking about different topics ranging from games to movies, books and even a little about sports.

"Alright Linc my dude it's getting close to the time I wanted to go to bed at, but if you want to stay up more feel free. Just remember that we are heading out on our journey tomorrow and might not be back here for a while".

"Ok Rich. Have a goodnight. And again… I'm sorry about snooping around your room". "Ah it's fine man don't sweat it. Like I said earlier I get it. If you're curiosity gets the better of you again though just ask me. I won't hide anything from you. And besides it gave me the chance to let out something I didn't know I needed. Now I have some things to think about.".

And with that Richard went off to bed, Lincoln went to sleep not too long after him, and slept through the night, not having another nightmare. At least for now.

And There you have it, we got a deeper look into Richard's psyche and Lincoln has started feeling the emotional scars in the aftermath of Jim's torture. Next chapter we take one more look into the past before getting to the last chapter. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and as always Leave a review or comment. Bye for now.