Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Broken Mirror: New War
Chapter twelve: Settling Peace
Lincoln Loud, the only boy out of the eleven Loud siblings, got a bit of a late start on Sunday. But then again, he had some…business…that he had to take care of the previous night. He was also out rather late, and the white-haired boy was worried that at least one person would have some sort of clue as to the…nature…of his business. Luckily for him, however, no one else in the family even knew that he was out last night.
When Lincoln walked down the stairs and reached the first floor of his family's house, he was greeted by his mother Rita; like with his sisters, Lincoln decided that Rita, who had shown nothing but remorse for her part in driving him to run away and also played a significant role in going up against Lynn sr., her husband and the Loud family patriarch, when said man was being a paranoid tyrannical idiot towards the girls, was not worth staying mad at.
Really, at this point, only Lynn Sr. himself was the only person in the family that Lincoln still had any steam aimed at.
"Good morning, sweetie," Rita greeted in a friendly tone, "I take it you didn't sleep well given how late you've gotten up today?"
"Yeah, I didn't sleep well," Lincoln replied; this, of course, was a lie, as the white-haired boy did not want anyone in his family aware of what he took care of the previous night, as well as what he did while he lived as a runaway in the city. Lincoln was about to move to head into the dining room area, but before he got very far, Rita knelt down and gently wrapped her arms around him, drawing him into a hug.
"I'm sorry, Lincoln," Rita said in a gentle tone, one that carried an obvious hint of regret.
"It's…it's okay, mom," Lincoln replied in a mildly surprised and unsure tone as he patted his mother on the back with his right hand, "You…just suffered a lapse of judgment when it came to the whole bad luck deal from a while ago."
"Well, I do still feel guilty about that," Rita admitted. Letting go of her son, Rita continued as she stood up and straightened herself out, "But that wasn't the reason why I was apologizing."
This time, Lincoln wore a look that was a mix of curiosity and confusion. "…What do you mean?" Lincoln asked.
"Earlier this morning on the news," Rita began, "There was a news story about one of your classmates from school being killed last night when some men broke into his family's house."
Lincoln, of course, knew about one of his classmates over at RWES having been killed last night; it was a boy named Chandler, a conceited and smugly self-assured brat who, to the annoyance of Lincoln and a lot of the kids the white-haired boy associates with, maintained a very high level of popularity at school. The reason why Lincoln knew that Chandler had been killed last night was because it was Lincoln who killed him; that was the…business…from last night that Lincoln took care of. Yes, Lincoln expected to hear about Chandler's death. But what he didn't expect to hear about was the part about some grown men breaking into the house where Chandler's family lives.
"What…what happened, exactly?" Lincoln asked as he looked up at his mother, the news that he was just told doing a very good job at waking him up.
As it turned out, a number of men broke into the house where Chandler's family lives; it must have been sometime after Lincoln came by and took care of what he came to take care of. According to the news report, which Lincoln was able to locate on the internet, the group that broke into Chandler's family's house consisted of seven men who were fired from the sewage treatment plant where Chandler's dad works.
In fact, Chandler's dad, who had risen to a very favorable position in the management of the sewage treatment plant, was the one who fired all seven of those men. The reasons all varied, but none of the firings had any sort of actual justification; in fact, at least three of the seven firings were confirmed to have been done out of pettiness on Chandler's dad's part. When the seven men tried to complain, no one of authority believed them, due to the relatively low positions they all had prior to being fired and the fact that Chandler's dad was very high up in the hierarchy of the sewage treatment plant's management.
An investigation was launched, and evidence that was uncovered confirmed that the seven men were the ones behind the RWES bombing from a few months ago; the men all knew that their former boss had a child who attended the elementary school (they weren't aware of the child's appearance, gender or grade at the time, however), and hoped that by blasting the school to kingdom come on a school day, they would manage to severely maim (or hopefully kill) their former boss's kid. Unfortunately for them, due to the stomach flu going around at the time, their former boss's kid out sick that day. As a side note, roughly sixty percent of the school's student population was also out sick that day due to stomach flu; if it hadn't been for the stomach flu going around at the time, the bombing probably would have been much, much worse.
After they felt enough time had passed, the seven men tired once again with getting back at their former boss. In addition to being found responsible for the RWES bombing, the seven men were also found to be responsible for bombing the sewage treatment plant, their former workplace. They hoped that this would be a more direct way of getting back at their former boss, hoping that the man himself would get hurt. To the further bad luck of the seven men, their former boss wasn't at the sewage treatment plant at the time they carried out the bombing.
After enough time passed after their second failed attempt, the seven men figured that they'd go as direct of a route as possible, and just break into their former boss's home, kill his family, take him someplace private, then torture him until either he died or they get bored, at which point they'd kill him anyway. When they broke in, one of them shot and killed an elderly Jewish woman that was asleep in an armchair in the living room. This elderly Jewish lady later turned out to have been someone hired to babysit Chandler for the night; the elderly Jewish woman was someone held in high regard by Chandler's mother.
As the men searched the house in the hopes to locate their former boss, two of the men came across Chandler. However, the two men that found him claimed that he was already dead when they found the kid; one of the two men thought that Chandler had committed suicide via cyanide pill for some odd reason, if the foam coming out of Chandler's mouth as his body laid on the floor in his bedroom was any indication.
Ultimately, this third attempt of the seven men to get back at their former boss also failed, partly because their former boss and his wife decided to have some 'special time' that night and got a hotel room so they could be alone, and partly because their former boss's kid, who was the only member of their former boss's family that they came across, was already dead by the time they found him. The only person the group of men as a whole were really guilty (so they claim; a lot of people didn't believe them since a dead kid was involved) of killing that night was that elderly Jewish woman, who by the way was a Holocaust survivor.
The main reason why all of this was discovered was because, in their carelessness, none of the seven men wore anything over their hands, and as such they left prints all over the place. Upon learning this from the news article, Lincoln chuckled to himself. He wore gloves (never once taking them off while he was there) when he was at Chandler's house last night, but none of the seven men who broke in did. Lincoln wasn't caught, but all seven of the men were.
When all seven of the men were rounded up by police, a series of warrants were issued to search various properties the men all owned, and various bomb-making supplies were recovered and confiscated. The materials all matched what was used in both bombings. When the men were all questioned, they all said the same thing; that after their former boss rose to the position he got, he fired all seven of them over the course of the first two weeks of his new position; in fact, he fired two of the men during his first day in that new position. They also claimed that their former boss was clearly abusing his power, as not one of them did anything that was actually worthy of getting them fired.
This prompted a second investigation, this time into Chandler's dad, the former boss of the seven men who carried out the bombings. As it turned out, the seven men were right; Chandler's dad fired all of them for trivial and/or petty reasons. Two were fired because Chandler's dad had set expectations for those two so high that no one could be reasonable expected to meet them, three were fired for somehow personally offending Chandler's dad, and the other two, who were fired on Chandler's dad's first day in his new position, were fired because, and this is a direct quote, Chandler's dad wanted to test out his new authority and to 'feel powerful'.
Although this does not excuse what any of the seven men did in any way whatsoever, if it hadn't been for Chandler's dad letting his newfound power and authority at work go to his head, then none of the things that the seven men did would have happened. The bombings wouldn't have happened, there wouldn't have been that feeling of terror in Royal Woods, and many innocent people, most of which were kids, would still be alive to this day.
Chandler's dad's boss, probably the only person at the sewage treatment plant with authority over Chandler's dad, became so pissed that he demoted Chandler's dad back to the position he used to have, while simultaneously promoting the guy that Chandler's dad competed with for that position to said position. Chandler's dad's boss said that he (Chandler's dad) should consider himself lucky that he wasn't being outright fired for the blatant abuse of power, as well as what said abuse had led to.
Chandler's mother, realizing that everything that the seven men did, both bombings, breaking into her family's house, and killing both the elderly Jewish lady and Chandler (the men all still claimed that they had nothing to do with Chandler's death), was all her husband's fault, became so furious at her husband that she decided to file for divorce. In fact, while the paperwork was being worked out, Chandler's mother packed a suitcase and moved in with her sister's family.
And so here Chandler's dad was; demoted to his old position, both his wife leaving him and his son dead, many people in the city as a whole scorned him for what his pettiness led to, and he would soon end up losing his house, as a mix of being demoted (which carried a drop to his income) and the divorce settlement would severely wreck his financial strength. He was going from being one of the most respected and financially secure men in Royal Woods to being one of the least respected and financially struggling.
It seems that when the karma stick hits someone who had managed to avoid it for the longest time, it hits them HARD.
The following Monday, Lincoln, his elementary school-aged younger sisters, and various friends of those Loud siblings were all at school, with the main topic of discussion among the student body being Chandler's death. Even though Lincoln knew about it since late Saturday night, he acted just as shocked and surprised about the news when his friends were talking about it, if only to keep up appearences.
"I still can't believe that jerk is really gone," Liam remarked as he, Lincoln, Clyde and Zach talked about their mutual enemy having died during the weekend during the recess break that happens right after lunch, "I mean, sure it's bad that he's dead. It's bad when anyone dies. But Chandler…" Doing the so-so gesture with his right hand, Liam continued, "…Ehh, he probably won't be all that missed."
"The only people I can conceivably see as really missing Chandler would be his friends and Astrid," Zach said, "The teachers and other members of the school staff will show concern given that Chandler was a student here, but in the end, it's not going to affect their lives personally." After everyone else in the group nodded in agreement with Liam, Lincoln coughed to get his friends to all focus on him.
"Would now…be a bad time to mention what I found in the school's lost and found when I was looking for a textbook that I lost?" Lincoln began, getting his three friends that were with him on the playground to all turn and face him.
…
What Lincoln ended up showing his friends was Chandler's journal (the journal still had that label that was on its cover). The white-haired boy actually didn't find the journal in the lost and found, but it was a very believable tale, especially since the only person who would have potentially seen Lincoln come in and out of the lost and found, a school security officer, was asleep at the desk. There were also no security cameras in that area, so Lincoln had a sound alibi to work with.
Lincoln and his friends figured it would be worth a hoot to take a look into the private thoughts of the late conceited boy. Sure, it was considered desecrating the memories and integrity of the deceased. But given the kind of person Chandler was when he was still alive, neither Lincoln or the white-haired boy's friends gave a damn. However, what the boys learned (well, what Clyde, Lima and Zach learned; Lincoln read all of the important parts beforehand) from reading the journal, especially some of the latter parts, disgusted them, making them see Chandler in a lower light than ever before.
"...Rusty is actually innocent?!" Clyde nearly exclaimed, clearly sounding righteously angry, "I can't believe it! I can't believe that Chandler framed Rusty as a bully and ultimately got him expelled from school just because he was jealous of being shown up by Rusty when they were doing fidget spinner tricks that one time! Not to mention the fact that Chandler actually went so far as to set up one of Lincoln's sisters as the bullying victim!"
"You think that's the worst of Chandler's dabbling in bullying?" Zach remarked to Clyde while gesturing to the journal, which Liam was currently holding and looking over, "Chandler admits in his journal that it was he and two of his friends that messed with that Kindergarten boy so much and so badly that the little guy ended up killing himself! Granted, Chandler also says in his journal that he was not counting on that Kindergartener committing suicide, but it still happened as a result of actions that he intentionally took!" Taking Chandler's journal from Liam, Zach said as he went over one of the journal entries related to what he said, "That has without a doubt got to be one of the single worst things that Chandler has ever done!"
"What really alarms me is how Chandler not only got into a rivalry with a middle schooler, but that he ended up winning against said middle schooler," Liam said, "I have no idea who this Francisco fellow is, but he sure got the short end of the stick when Chandler decided to tango with him." Lincoln nodded in agreement with Liam; sometime after Lincoln ran away from home, Chandler started something or a rivalry with Francisco, mostly due to the fact that their respective dads were competing for some position at their place of work at the time.
Various incidents that put Francisco in the spot of a Heel, such as trying to cheat in a Kendo tournament, trying to get someone he competed against in a student body presidential election over at RWMS seriously hurt so that they'd be force to drop out, and so-on was actually the work of Chandler who, on every occasion, had framed Francisco of the wrong-doings. In fact, the only altercation between the two boys where Chandler did not set Francisco up was this one incident, shortly after Chandler's dad got the promotion, where Francisco caught Chandler alone one day after school and beat him up. And even then, Chandler was able to work that to his advantage, getting the thirteen-year-old boy arrested and sent to juvie.
Chandler also talked about one other event in his journal, before anything about his rivalry with Francisco popped up. It was an incident that led Lincoln to believe that the rivalry between Chandler and Francisco actually started before either boy was actually aware of it. Chandler says in his journal that his cousin Kara, who is a seventh grader over at RWMS, was on a youth baseball team that, under the coach's instruction, was secretly cheating in order to rack up wins.
Kara didn't commit any of the cheating herself, but that was because she didn't really care about sports at all; she was on the team because her father (who was Chandler's uncle), a major sports nut, was trying to force his love of sports onto Kara. The thirteen-year-old girl would have loved to have taken any chance she saw to expose her team's cheating, as it would have gotten her team disqualified from playing for the remainder of the season, thus leaving her free from having to play any sports, but her coach and the team members that were in on the cheating would have decried her as a whistle-blower and would strive to make her reputation in Royal Woods tank.
Also, Kara's father would probably get very mad at his daughter if he found out that she revealed her team's cheating so she wouldn't have to play sports; knowing the kind of guy that Kara's father is, he probably wouldn't care if his daughter was on a youth sports team that was cheating, so long as his daughter was being made to embrace his passion for sports. When Kara told her younger cousin Chandler about this, he came up with a surprisingly effective yet simple idea to not only get Kara out of doing something that she absolutely hated, but to make sure that Kara wouldn't get in trouble for it.
During the next game that Kara's team played, Chandler went to a few officials presiding over the game and told them that he overheard two boys on one of the teams talking about various methods of cheating that was commonly thought of when thinking of cheating in baseball. Chandler then told the officials that after he saw the two boys leave a locker room, he snuck in and checked to see if what the boys said about cheating was true. As such, he said that he found various things such as sand paper and a jar of Vaseline.
When the officials checked this out, they found that not only was Chandler right in his claims, but that further investigation revealed that the cheating team was also using methods such as cork-filled baseball bats and pine tar. Also, they ended up discovering that the coach of the cheating team was earning money by making bets on the games that his team played in. As a side note, this cheating was happening for real. Chandler (or Kara, for that matter) did not set the team up in any way; in fact, Chandler was actually doing good by exposing the team's cheating.
With the team's cheating exposed, they were disqualified from the game they were playing about halfway through the game's overall duration, and even ended up being disqualified from playing for the rest of the season, thus freeing Chandler's cousin from her obligation without risking getting her into any trouble. Chandler also said that as he talked to Kara when the game was ended, they saw a boy on Kara's team get slapped in the face by a girl from the opposing team before said girl ran off crying. Chandler didn't remember either the boy or the girl from that incident up until, when he was going on about Francisco getting arrested for assaulting him, he recognized Francisco as the boy who got slapped in the face by a girl.
Reading this part in Chandler's journal, Lincoln knew full well who the girl that slapped Francisco in the face was.
Chandler also went on in his journal about how after her youth baseball team was disqualified, Kara was forced by her dad to find some other sport to throw herself into, never realizing that his daughter secretly abhorred sports and didn't tell him so out of fear of making him mad (a fear that Lincoln, as he continued to read Chandler's journal further, discovered was eventually proven to be well-founded).
Kara ended up picking up Kendo, and even though she found the prospect of practicing a sword-based martial art to be interesting, she'd still rather be holed up in her bedroom all day, playing on her video game console. Kara only stuck with the martial art long enough to take part in one tournament at the local community center (Kara was naturally eliminated from the tournament in one of the earlier rounds, although to her credit she did make it past round one). That tournament also had Francisco as a competitor, and Chandler, in his continuing rivalry with Francisco, decided to frame the thirteen-year-old boy for cheating. As a side note, Chandler didn't go into any further detail about his cousin's only go at Kendo.
After that, Lincoln and his friends decided to close Chandler's journal. "So…what do we do now?" Zach asked, "I mean, this journal has a lot of proof that a lot of what happened was all Chandler's doing, specifically getting Rusty expelled from school and driving that one boy that was in Kindergarten to the point that said boy ended up committing suicide." Gesturing to the journal, Zach said, "We need to get this information out to the public."
"Totally," Clyde remarked as he and the other boys all nodded in agreement. As Clyde held a hand to his chin, he wore a look of deep consideration as he said, "But how can we go about getting this info in Chandler's journal out to the public?"
"…" As Lincoln looked at his friends with something of a deadpan expression, the white-haired boy said, "…I think I have an idea."
…
Over in another area of the playground, the Loud twins Lola and Lana were playing around with a few of their classmates. As the first-graders all played around, Lincoln came walking up while calling out, "Hey, Lola! I need your help with something!"
Sometime during the final class period of that school day, the intercom turned on and Lola, who was the one using it, read from Chandler's journal, specifically the passages that were marked out by her older brother ahead of time. At first, no one paid it too much mind, assuming that it was just some spoiled little brat reading someone's private diary or journal over the intercom in a bid to embarrass the book's owner in front of everyone.
However, the students started paying attention when they recognized that it must have been Chandler's journal that was being read over the intercom, since a few passages mentioned Chandler's two primary goon-friends by name, along with the fact that whoever wrote those passages referred to Astrid Ace as 'my girlfriend' on a few occasions that took place after she and Chandler started to go out.
As the journal entries went on, Lola (who most of the school wasn't all that familiar with) started to sound more confused and concerned. She even became disgusted when she reached the part that proved Chandler and his goon-friends had actually been the ones who bullied her older sister Lucy but framed Rusty for it. And when Lola was reading aloud the part about how Chandler and his goon-friends had bullied Hugo Ashveil, who was a four-year-old boy, to the point that he ended up killing himself, the pageant winning Loud sister started to cry. Lola was able to power through her crying, and finish reading the journal entries that were marked off ahead of time by her older brother.
After Lola was done broadcasting parts of Chandler's journal over RWES's intercom system and turned said system off, Lincoln, Clyde, Zach and Liam, all four of which stood nearby while Lola did her work, congratulated her for getting the word out on some of the late conceited boy's atrocities. "…Good job, Lola," Lincoln said as he walked up to his little sister and gently patted her on the back, "This will help get justice for a lot of people who've been wronged."
"I s-still can't believe t-that someone would a-actually be s-so c-cruel," Lola said, stammering a bit due to still crying from when she went over the part that talked about Hugo's suicide.
"What I can't believe is that we were able to get away with broadcasting parts of Chandler's journal over the school's intercom system," Zach remarked casually.
"I showed Principal Huggins some of the journal entries, and after he confirmed that it was Chandler's, he agreed to let me do this with all of you," Lincoln remarked, "It helps that he owes me and Clyde a few favors. Also, he's going to be drilling Chandler's goons for information later, so expect to see some results." Gently laying a hand on his crying little sister's right shoulder, Lincoln said in a concerned and gentle tone as Lola looked up at him, "Are you going to need some time to calm down, Lola?"
Sniffling a little more, Lola replied, "I-it's still so s-sad what happened, L-Lincoln."
Sighing in a resigned tone, Lincoln said in an understanding tone, "I know, Lola." Kneeling down to hug Lola, Lincoln continued in the same tone, "I know." The white-haired boy continued to hug and reassure his little sister for the next minute or so, while his friends all watched on as he tried to put Lola at ease. It tore at the boys' hearts, but it was also in a way a heartwarming scene.
Chandler's goon-friends were brought in and drilled for info about their involvement with some of the events in Chandler's journal that were broadcasted over the school's intercom system, specifically the part detailing Hugo Ashveil's suicide. Principal Huggins brought up how one student claimed to have caught them and Chandler picking on the late four-year-old, and when said student, who turned out to be Lana, was called in to give her side of the story, she basically repeated what she claimed when some of the teachers shot her down on the basis that none of them ever knew Chandler to have ever gotten up to any sort of trouble.
As a result of their involvement in some of the acts mentioned in the parts of Chandler's journal that were broadcasted, the late conceited boy's goon-friends saw their rep at school plummet. In addition to being drilled for info on their involvement in the Hugo incident, Chandler's goon-friends were also drilled for info on their part in framing former RWES student Rusty Spokes as a bully a while ago.
The goon-friends ended up fessing up that they were the ones who took one of the garbage cans at the school, picked it up and shoved it down over Lucy Loud when one of the garbage cans at the school was checked; all of the garbage cans at RWES are those large, hard plastic heavy ones that come in various colors such as blue. Such cans cannot be effectively lifted by one student acting on his or her own, which is what was implied due to Rusty being framed, due to how much one of those cans weighed, along with how hard it would be for one student to try and manage something of that size on their own.
The goons were severely disciplined, but ultimately not expelled. But then again, given how the goons ended up becoming scorned throughout the school by the rest of the student body, it could not be effectively determined if the goons not being expelled was a good thing or a bad thing. Additionally, the school contacted Rusty's parents and told them about what they discovered about Rusty's expulsion and how he was actually innocent of what he was expelled over. When they were told everything, to say that Rusty's parents were angry…would be an understatement.
Fortunately, the school was able to avoid too much of a scandal by agreeing to reinstate Rusty as a student; the older Spokes boy returned to school the Monday following parts of Chandler's journal being read over the intercom. The rest of the student body, now knowing that Rusty was actually innocent the whole time, all felt really sorry for ostracizing him prior to his (undeserved) expulsion, especially Clyde, Zach, Liam, Rusty's own brother Rocky, and Lucy; Lincoln was the only one to not apologize to the older Spokes boy, but then again, Lincoln was living in the city that he ran away to at the time all of that business went down, so he never did anything to Rusty that was worth apologizing for.
The student body as a whole was almost about to ostracize Astrid Ace, out of her being associated with Chandler and his goons due to being Chandler's girlfriend while he was still alive. However, this was thankfully averted when it was revealed that the white-haired Ace girl was essentially trapped into the position, and that everything she tried to avert ending up being with the late conceited boy ended up failing. Also helping Astrid was the fact that she is Ronnie Anne's bestie, and many students feared getting on the Hispanic tomboy's bad side.
When a few students asked her how she felt, Astrid said that she was ultimately relieved that she would no longer have to put up with Chandler, although she did admit that, regardless of what Chandler was involved in, him being dead was a bit too much. The last that any of the other students at RWES heard about Astrid, she had her eye on a boy that she admitted to have a crush on since before she was essentially forced to go out with Chandler.
During the first recess of the day that Rusty returned to school, he met up with Lincoln, Zach and Liam; the boys had no idea where Clyde was, but the four boys all assumed that their dark-skinned friend would eventually join them. "Did one of you guys really find Chandler's journal in the school's lost and found office?" Rusty asked as he, Lincoln, Liam and Zach hung out near the tetherball poles.
"It was Lincoln," Liam said to Rusty while pointing to the white-haired boy, "He even got one of his little sisters to read some of the journal's parts over the school's intercom. …I believe that her name was Leni."
"It was Lola," Lincoln corrected in something of a deadpan tone, a mildly unamused look on his face, "Leni is one of my older sisters who goes to Royal Woods High."
Chandler's funeral was held that Friday afternoon, but other than Chandler's various goon-friends and the respective parents of those boys, only members of Chandler's family showed up. It was the first time since before news of what her (soon to be ex) husband had done was revealed that Chandler's mother was willing to be in the same room as Chandler's father. Similar to Chandler's mother, Kara's mother was also seeking separation from her respective husband, although this was due to various marital problems rather than because Kara's dad screwed up big time like Chandler's dad did.
During the funeral, it was mentioned in passing that not only does Kara want her mother to have full custody of her, but that she doesn't even want her father to have visiting rights. The thirteen-year-old girl gave the usual 'it's dad's fault that the divorce is happening' shtick, and pretty much everyone believed her. However, in reality, the reason that Kara wanted her mother to have full custody of her was because she wouldn't push Kara into sports, and she had no problem with Kara playing video games all day, provided that Kara took care of her homework beforehand.
Speaking of which, given that Kara was the only member of the family as a whole who was in his general age group (she was roughly two years older than him), most of Chandler's belongings ended up being given to Kara. This included all of his video game stuff, such as his Playtendo Swap system and the various games that went with it. Kara also got various books, all the money that Chandler had saved up in a small crock jar in his room (A little over seven-hundred dollars?! Seriously?!), and a few collectable items such as a few cool toys, plus a few tins and two binders full of Yugioh cards. The only possessions of Chandler's which Kara did not inherit from him was the furniture that was in his bedroom, although for some odd reason Kara got the bed sheet set that was on Chandler's bed.
No one at RWES knew of what happened at Chandler's funeral except for Chandler's various goon-friends. But then again, those boys were the only ones who still cared about the late conceited boy, having been with him through thick and thin and still seeing Chandler as a true friend. And since no one at RWES was willing to so much as talk to any members of Chandler's old posse (Astrid, who was technically a member of said posse, was the sole exception), what happened during Chandler's final moments before he was interred over at the at Royal Woods Cemetery would remain a mystery.
When Lincoln got out of school on Friday, as he walked home with his sisters Lucy, Lana, Lola and Lisa, they all saw a black Hearse car drive by, followed by a few other cars. "That's the kind of car I want to get when I turn sixteen and get my license," Lucy remarked while pointing at the Hearse as she and her siblings watched the cars all drive past them.
"Given your interest in the macabre and the fact that you even have your own funeral service, it does not surprise me in the least that you would want a funeral Hearse as your first car," Lisa remarked in her usual dry monotone. The twins then proceeded to ask why Lucy would want to get a funeral car out of all possible cars when she becomes old enough to drive. As Lucy, the twins and Lisa all started to talk amongst themselves, Lincoln turned his head in the direction in which the Hearse and the cars that followed it all drove in.
"…Hmm," Lincoln thought as he turned his head back around, "So long, Chandler."
The following Wednesday evening, as the Loud siblings were all hanging around in the living room, the front door opened, and Lynn Sr., clearly looking exhausted after a long day at work, came walking into the house. He was also carrying what looked like a large plastic variety case that held a lot of sushi.
"Hey, daddy!" Lola greeted when she and her siblings saw their father enter the house, "How was work today?"
"Well other than an incident where I accidentally spilled some mead on a customer and this one case where Sergei mixed up one customer's mochi order with another customer's oden order, today went pretty well," Lynn Sr. replied.
"Wait a minute," Luan began in a confused tone, "None of that sounded like it would appear at a Hawaiian and Russian fusion restaurant such as Aloha Comrade."
"Luan, Aloha Comrade literally went out of business due to being unable to keep up with competition and being unable to afford to stay open," Lori explained to her comedic sister, "Dad works at Odin-Dono's now, remember?"
"Hold on a minute," Lincoln began, "Since when did he work at the place that the Aces own?"
"That's…a bit of a story, Lincoln," Lori replied as she began to tell Lincoln what happened.
(FLASHBACK)
The Ace twins, Allison and Aggro, were over at the Loud residence sometime during the previous Saturday, while most of the Loud siblings were off doing their own thing. Only Lori and Luna, who attended RWHS same as the Ace twins and Amy, plus Lily who was in her and Lisa's room taking a nap at the time, were present when the Ace twins visited. Standing in front of Allison and Aggro were Lori, Luna and Lynn Sr.
"…So, Mr. Loud," Aggro began in a neutral yet cool tone as he addressed the Loud family patriarch, "I was told by Lori and Luna while they were bringing Allison and I over that you wished to apologize to me." Crossing his arms over his chest, the Swedish/Japanese teenage boy asked, "Is this accurate?"
"Yes," Lynn Sr. replied in a resigned tone, sounding like a man who was very much humbled.
"When Aggro told me what you did, I was beyond disgusted with you," Allison snarled in an angry, disappointed tone at the Loud patriarch, "You threatened his life to make him leave, even though he was a guest who was invited by Lori and her sisters. And with a handgun, no less." Her glaring gaze at Lynn Sr. narrowing in a way to convey her feelings of disgust, Allison said, "You lack honor."
"Allison literally has a point, dad," Lori began, "There was no need to threat-"
"You could have at least had the decency to threaten my brother with a true warrior's weapon," Allison remarked as she cut Lori off in the process, "Like a battle-axe or a war-hammer or a-"
"Thank you, Allison," Aggro remarked in a dry tone, getting his older twin sister to stop, "But I think that the point has already been made." Turning to face Lynn Sr., the male Ace twin continued, "Anywho, we ought to get back to the subject at hand. You're going to apologize, are you not, Mr. Loud?"
"Yes, yes, I am," Lynn Sr. said in the same humbled, defeated tone that he's been using so far. After sighing, Lynn Sr. said, "Forcing you to leave like that, even though my daughters had invited you over, because of the competitiveness my co-workers and I over at Aloha Comrade had against your family's restaurant was wrong of me, and I apologize for that."
"Aloha Comrade?" Allison repeated in a confused tone, getting everyone to turn and face her, "Didn't that place go out of business late yesterday evening?"
"Yes, the restaurant where me and my siblings' dad worked literally went out of business," Lori said to her friend, "And that leads us to part of the reason why Luna and I asked you to come over here." Taking a breath to calm her nerves, Lori explained, "Remember when you told us that there was a cook position available at Odin-Dono's? Well, Luna and I were hoping that since your mother is in charge of the place, that you two might be able to convince her to hire our dad if he apologized to you for how he acted."
"Seriously?" Allison remarked dryly, crossing her arms over her chest. Giving the oldest Loud sibling a serious look, Allison continued, "I know that he's your dad and that he needs a job now that the restaurant he worked for had to close its doors, but he did threaten my brother."
"Oh, come on, brah," Luna said with a mild hint of pleading in her tone. Pointing to her dad while still facing Allison, Luna continued, "Things will get tight around here unless pops here gets a job, and he's really good as a cook."
Aggro wore a look of consideration as he looked at the expressions on the faces of Lori and Luna. The two Loud girls were clearly looking like they were pleading. Shifting to look at the Loud patriarch, Aggro saw that he wore a look of being humbled and defeated, which went well with the tone he was using earlier. Turning back to regard Lori and Luna, Aggro said, "…Has your father apologized to Leni-chan for what his actions put her through yet?"
"Huh?" Lori asked, "Well yeah, dad did apologize to Leni, but-"
"And would you say that said apology was sufficient?" Aggro went on as he continued his line of questioning, interrupting Lori in the process.
"Yeah, I'd certainly say so," Luna remarked to the male Ace twin.
Turning to face Lynn Sr., Aggro said, "…Alright, now this question is for you, Mr. Loud." When the Loud patriarch looked up to Aggro (Lynn Sr. was previously looking down at the floor out of shame), Aggro asked, "Are there any other people who worked at Aloha Comrade, aside from yourself, that are currently looking for work as well?"
"What…what do you mean?" Lynn Sr. asked.
"There are actually multiple positions available at Odin-Dono's right now," Aggro explained, "At least two of which are full-time cook positions. You and the other people who worked at Aloha Comrade are obviously experienced at working in a restaurant, and experience like that could be used over at Odin-Dono's. If any of your co-workers from Aloha Comrade are wanting it, I'll put in a good word for them while I'm recommending you to my mother for consideration in hiring to one of the full-time cook positions."
"Are you serious?" Lori said as she and Luna were clearly elated that Aggro was willing to recommend their dad for a job at the Ace family restaurant.
Turning to face the present Loud sisters, Aggro replied calmly, "I am."
"Thank you so much, young man," Lynn Sr. said to the male Ace twin, "Seriously. This is just the break that my family and I need right now."
"No problem," Aggro remarked. Turning to face Allison, Aggro said, "We ought to get going back home now, Allison."
"Right," the female Ace twin replied with a nod in the affirmative as she and her brother turned to leave the Loud family residence.
(END FLASHBACK)
"…Surprisingly, dad's earning a little more working at Allison's family's place than he did working at Aloha Comrade," Lori said as she finished telling her story to Lincoln.
"Yeah, Sergei couldn't afford to pay me as much as I'm earning now," Lynn Sr. remarked, "Speaking of which, it's really bummed Sergei that he went from owning a restaurant to working for a restaurant. I feel bad for him." Looking to the variety case of sushi that he held, Lynn Sr. continued, "Oh, I was able to bring this from work." The Loud siblings all gathered around and saw, through the clear plastic top of the case, that there was at least forty plus pieces of sushi, one of which was noticeably larger than any of the other pieces.
"Wow, look at all of the sushi!" Lola remarked as she and her siblings all looked at what their dad had brought home with him.
"Yeah, Aggro handed this off to me right as I was leaving," Lynn Sr. explained, "He also said that the big piece was for Leni."
"Dang it," the Loud sisters other than Leni all said in unison; Leni herself cheered over getting the big piece. As for Lincoln, he thought that it was sweet of Leni's crush to go through the trouble of getting this sushi platter prepared for the Louds, and even had a special piece set up for Leni.
The sole Loud boy thought that his ditzy but kindhearted older sister deserved the big piece of sushi, especially considering what she had been through.
The following afternoon, Lincoln was sitting in the living room watching TV. He had finished all of his homework and was silently grateful that Lisa took care of his homework for him while he was living in the city as a runaway. Anywho, as Lincoln and his elementary school-aged sisters watched TV, their older sister Lynn came walking into the house, having returned from being out somewhere. "How was your date with Ulfric?" Lola asked as soon as Lynn closed the door.
"It was awesome," Lynn said, "Apparently, Ulfric likes veggie grinders the same way I like meatball grinders." With a mildly curious look on her face, Lynn added, "Ulfric probably also likes honey, since he got honey-flavored tea as his beverage and he got the honey mustard topping for his grinder at the sub sandwich place we went to for lunch."
"Well he's big, strong and somewhat scary-looking like a bear, and bears like honey," Lana remarked, "That might explain it." The other Loud sisters younger than Lincoln all agreed with what Lana said, and Lynn, finding a bit of humor in what her tomboyish little sister said, also found herself agreeing with the idea.
"And relax, girls," Lynn said to her sisters, "Ulfric is not scary."
"She's right," Lincoln stated to the younger sisters, "I've met Ulfric a few times, and he's a pretty solid guy. There's no need to worry about him."
Lynn nodded in thanks to Lincoln for his support before she took her leave to head into the kitchen to grab a snack. After Lynn was out of sight, Lincoln and the younger sisters turned back to face the TV. While he watched the TV, Lincoln thought about how his athletic older sister was doing right now.
After Lola read parts of Chandler's journal over the RWES intercom, the journal was discreetly brought back over to the Loud family's residence, mostly because Lola wanted to show her and Lincoln's other sisters the parts in the journal that proved that Rusty was actually framed for bullying Lucy (it was Lincoln's intention to bring the journal back to their family's place anyway). After the sisters as a whole were done, Lynn wanted to go over the parts that went on about Francisco.
It disgusted Lynn to confirm that Francisco's team really was cheating, meaning that his part in knowing about it but not doing anything about it, even though he did none of the actual cheating himself, was real. But what really disgusted Lynn was that pretty much everything else that Francisco was supposedly guilty of was actually just Chandler having set Francisco up as a fall guy in order to make Francisco, and by extension his (Francisco's) dad, look bad.
Granted, Lynn still wanted nothing to do with Francisco anymore because of the fact that he was still honestly an accessory to something that Lynn considered to be a very serious crime (cheating in sports). However, learning that Francisco was innocent of everything else did a lot to diminish the athletic Loud sibling's anger towards her former crush. She may still no longer want anything to do with Francisco, but now Lynn's desire to put him six feet under was gone.
…As was Lincoln's desire to put Francisco six feet under for breaking Lynn's heart.
Getting up from the sofa, Lincoln walked into the kitchen, and saw that Lynn was grabbing one of the brownie snack cakes. "How many of those are left?" Lincoln asked before Lynn could even get the wrapper off of the snack cake, getting her to turn around and look at him.
"Oh, hey Linc," Lynn greeted, "I had to open a box to get this, so there should still be quite a few packs left."
"Let's try to make sure Leni gets a pack," Lincoln remarked, "She didn't get any from any of the last three boxes, so she's due to get one of the brownie snack cakes."
"That's fair," Lynn replied with a nod. After Lincoln walked over to where the snack cabinet was and grabbed a brownie snack cake for himself, he turned around to face Lynn.
"So…are you doing okay now?" Lincoln asked. Lynn could tell what her younger brother was getting at, given the look that he was giving her.
With a sigh, Lynn said, "Yeah. I still would have ended things with Francisco after finding out about his part in what his baseball team was doing anyway, but the fact that some brat who's dead now made Francisco look worse and worse…" Sighing in a resigned tone, Lynn said, "I've really messed up."
"Chandler had a lot of people duped, Lynn," Lincoln pointed out, "Duping people was a skill that Chandler had clearly mastered." Laying a hand on Lynn's left shoulder in a reassuring gesture, Lincoln continued, "There's no need to beat yourself up over this, Lynn. No one can really be flawless."
"I know," the athletic Loud sister replied in a knowing tone, "And I'm clearly the poster child for that idea." Sighing once again, Lynn said as hints of tears appeared in the corners of her eyes, "Lincoln, seriously. I am so sorry about what I did that day. The threatening you into coming to my softball game, the proclaiming you as bad luck, everything."
"Lynn…" Lincoln began, but he was cut off as Lynn wasn't done yet.
"And that's not all of it, either," Lynn went on, "There were the times I was way too rough with you while playing sports, and the Dutch ovens, and the-" This time, it was Lynn who was cut off, but it was because Lincoln walked up to her, gently threw his arms around her, and drew her into a gentle hug.
"…There's no need to beat yourself up, Lynn," Lincoln said in a gentle and understanding tone, unknowingly drawing more tears out of his athletic older sister. The two siblings stood there in the kitchen for a bit, hugging each other.
"He still isn't holding what we did to him against us?" Lola asked in a tone that clearly conveyed surprised shock; after the family went to bed, the Loud sisters all assembled in Lori and Leni's room for a secret sibling meeting, one that they did not want Lincoln at since they were going to talk about something nice to surprise him with.
"Well he did say that considering what we went through while he was gone, he felt that we suffered more than we should have," Lynn pointed out. Standing up from where she sat on the floor, Lynn continued, "Even so, we're still going to try and do something really nice for Lincoln, right?" The rest of the sisters all gave a unanimous response that made it clear that they still wanted to try and make things right with their only brother.
"That's good," Lynn said as she sat back down on the floor.
"Lynn's literally right," Lori said to the other girls, "We made a mess, and we're going to be cleaning it up. You all ready for what we have planned for tomorrow after we all get back from our respective schools?" After all of the girls nodded in agreement, Lori said, "Good. Now then, we ought to get to bed now. Head back to your rooms, everyone." All of the other Loud sisters got up and proceeded to make their way out of the room.
"Leni, don't leave," Lori said as Leni tried getting up, "This is literally your room, too."
END, BROKEN MIRROR: NEW WAR
Author's notes:
Well, this is it, the last chapter of 'Broken Mirror: New War'. A common issue I saw pop up was that the original 'Broken Mirror' didn't last as long as some people would have liked, so I tried to make this one longer. However, quantity does not necessarily equal quality; how well each chapter of the story, not to mention the story as a whole, did is up to you, the readers. Now then, since this tale is finished, I can now put some attention on other things I've got on my plate, such as other tales (which will have to wait for the time being).
Catch you all later.
…Oh, before I forget, I figured that there might be a few questions that some of you might be asking, so I'll take some time here to anticipate some of those questions and answer them as best as I can;
Q. Will anyone other than Lincoln ever know of what he did while he lived in the city as a runaway, as well as the fact that he was Broken Mirror?
A. Sorry, but it was never my intention for anyone to ever find out about that in-story. If that did happen, then Lincoln's sub sequent arrest would eventually lead to what the Loud parents are guilty of being revealed, which would lead to the Loud parents getting arrested, which would lead to the family being broken up. So, long story short, no one will ever find out Lincoln's secret identity or what he did while acting under said identity because the Loud family would be destroyed otherwise, and I'd rather they not get torn apart.
Q. Why was Lynn Sr. acting so defensive/paranoid/tyrannical/idiotic about the competition between the fusion restaurants in Royal Woods? Doesn't he have his dream of opening up his own restaurant? He even got that investment from that one guy in that one episode.
A. Well yeah, Lynn Sr. does have that dream of his to have his own restaurant. But at this point, he is nowhere near ready to open up his own restaurant. Also, in a hypothetical situation in which Lynn Sr. did have his own restaurant, it would also be competing against Odin-Dono's. Even if it fared as well as Jean Juan's, Lynn Sr.'s restaurant would still not be as popular as the Swedish and Japanese place. In fact, if Lynn Sr. did have his own restaurant in the story and it was losing business to the Ace's place, then the Loud patriarch would have acted even worse than he did here. (Kudos to StevenTLawson for giving me the idea for this question with his review on ch.2. Thanks for reminding me about Lynn Sr. having a dream to open his own restaurant, I actually forgot about it. Also, I actually enjoyed reading your review on ch.2.).
Q. Who's that Kara girl again and why is she Chandler's cousin?
A. Kara is an OC that I made mainly to be a supporting character to Chandler. She first appears in 'Restored Image', another one of my Loud House stories. If you want to know what Kara looks like, she basically looks like Kanna Kamui from Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, except all of the parts that aren't white are green, the parts that are white stay white, and Kara lacks horns and a tail (Kara is a human, obviously).
Q. Wait a minute, didn't Lincoln's list of people he'd want to kill if he ever returned to Royal Woods also include Rusty, Francisco and Lynn Sr.? Why didn't he kill any of them?
A. Rusty was spared because he was discovered to actually be innocent (a good thing Lincoln went after Chandler first, huh?). Francisco was spared because, aside from whatever involvement he had with his baseball team's cheating, every bad thing that was connected to him ended up being discovered to have happened because Chandler had set Francisco up; also, a lot of Lynn's anger and bitterness towards Francisco had died down when said info on her ex-crush was made public (if Lynn was still upset enough with Francisco, then Lincoln would have killed him because how dare he break Lynn's heart!). Lynn Sr. was spared for two reasons; one, he's the head of the Loud family and if he died then his surviving relatives would have to deal with a lot of crap (not to mention the death of their father/husband), and two, after being told by his older sisters how Lynn Sr. had humbled himself when apologizing to the Ace twins, Lincoln decided that Lynn Sr., at least mildly, was starting to make up for his idiocy.
Q. Which OCs are related to who?
A. Ulfric Aesir is an only child, as is Mitzie Cornwell. Kara is Chandler's cousin, like I said before. The Aces are all siblings. The minor antagonists Biff and Chris are both only childs as well, but they won't be popping up anymore. Other than that, any named OC I use in my Loud House stories will be one-shot characters unless I say otherwise, and I don't really care enough to go into detail for a one-shot OC character unless the chapter they appear in is going to revolve around them.
Q. Why is Lily wanting to play a role in trying to make things up to Lincoln? Lily shouldn't have to do anything; she's just a baby, after all.
A. Yes, I acknowledge that this is a very valid point. It's also a point that I actually strongly agree with. However, has anyone ever stop to consider what Lily might think in a situation such as what was going on in this story? Lily has proven to be rather smart/perceptive for a child her age and given how some of her older sisters behave, I wouldn't be surprised if Lily has some degree of pride. For all any of us know, Lily may want to do something nice for Lincoln anyway. Also, can you imagine how cute it would be if Lily tried to do something nice for her older brother?
Q. Why didn't the sisters do anything in the story to make up for what they did to Lincoln? You said they were going to do so.
A. Yes, I did say that. And the Loud sisters ARE going to do a proper job of making up for what they did to Lincoln. However, I was going to cover that in a future story. Speaking of future stories, I also have two short spin-off stories set in this universe in mind; both will be five chapters or less in length. One will be featuring the aforementioned Kara, and the other one will be featuring Aggro.
Q. I noticed that you uploaded chapters eight, nine, ten, eleven and twelve all on 6-28-2018. I'm just wondering, why did you upload the remaining chapters and finish the story in such a short burst of time?
A. You can find the explanation by checking out my profile (depending on how soon you read this, you may have to wait a bit before my profile is updated).