I guess you could say that I'm back from my break, and right before New Year's as well. But don't worry, you beautiful people, I won't just bombard you with chapters tomorrow. That's next week's deal!
Nah just kidding. Anyway, nothing else I could say would justify keeping you waiting, so let's move on to the chapter!
Midnight, back at The Loud House...
Leni walked back and forth in the kitchen, having just received the worst news possible from Mrs. Johnson. And it's not like she had an easy time forgetting, either, for she remembered exactly what went down:
"Listen, Leni, I had to take Cristina to the hospital after she received some injuries she... admittedly did to herself," Mrs. Johnson explained, twiddling her fingers and looking away before adding, "She was put in a room with... a white-haired boy, and they told me to come tomorrow in order to check up on her."
"Well, that's sad to know, I guess," Leni replied, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. "But you do sound worried about Cristina being put on the same room as that white-haired boy you're talking about-"
Suddenly, Leni remembered what she said: White-haired boy.
"W-Wait, y-you don't mean..." Leni stuttered, and Mrs. Johnson couldn't help but frown in further worry. "No, you can't be serious!"
"I'm afraid Cristina is resting in the same room as Lincoln," the woman confessed.
And once the memory played for another time, the girl groaned as silently as possible to not wake anybody up, and grabbed her head in exasperation.
"First I'm constantly ignored by Lisa, then I have to follow a mysterious voice whose methods have yet to work out in my favor, and now my poor little brother has to share a room with the psychopath who brought us so much pain and mysery!" she thought, getting ready to slam her fist down the table. "Can't one thing go right in this house?!"
But then, just as she got ready to hit the table, she stopped, remembering what time it was and how most of her sisters would be fast asleep by now. Keyword being almost all of them.
"Leni?"
The teenager got up, turned around and saw Lori at the door. Though, she didn't look so much angry as she was exhausted and clearly grumpy. "It's freaking midnight, what are you doing up so late?" she asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.
"I... I needed to take a midnight snack, that's all," Leni answered before suddenly blurting, "Would you kindly go back to bed and go to sleep?"
Nothing happened to Lori. Her eyes didn't even change, she was simply unaffected by the words, apparently.
"Not until you tell me what's bothering you," Lori stated.
Upon seeing the trick fail, Leni flinched and started to back away, not wanting to reveal what she knew but having no excuse to spat back at Lori. Speaking of her, the grumpy blonde started to walk towards Leni, forcing mer
"Come on, Leni, woman up and tell me what's going!" Lori barked as quietly as possible. "After all, you were the one who said she was going to be the one in charge from now on. You should have no problem telling me what's bothering you!"
Leni eventually hit a wall and responded, "If I told you what I learned, you'd go the Lola way and tell everybody in the morning, or perhaps you simply wouldn't tell anybody, but that's a risk I can't take."
Lori narrowed her eyes. "I've done everything I can to try and change this house for the better, and among those changes is that you will no longer hold any secrets," Leni added, putting on a defiant glare. "So, either I tell you about it and you tell everybody else, or I keep it to myself. And I'm sure you know which one I'm picking."
After exchanging looks for a moment, Lori chuckled, "You haven't even started your first day as a leader and you're already failing as a leader," she said, making Leni wince. "Desperately pulling off the "it's for the greater good" nonsense? Cracking under pressure so easily? Do you think that's what someone in charge would do?"
Leni narrowed her eyes and frowned, trying her hardest to look intimidating. "You're not someone capable of being a leader, sweet little Leni," Lori stated with a smug smile, though with a hint of flattery. "You're more like... a cinnamon roll."
"I'm a sweet type of bread?" Leni asked in offended confusion.
"There's the Leni everybody knows and cares about," Lori brushed Leni's hair and gave her an amused grin. "Listen, how about you ditch Leader Leni and go back to the little dumb Leni everybody's more used to?"
Those simple words were all Leni needed to remember why she was doing all of this: She had been "little dumb Leni" for so long, Lori was legitimately asking her to remain like that. She didn't even suggest that she change a thing or two, no, she just wanted little dumb, easily-manipulable, mostly ignored Leni to return.
"No," Leni stated, narrowing her eyes.
"What?" Lori asked, sounding shocked.
Suddenly, Leni punched Lori in the face hard enough to send her straight into a wall and give her a black eye. Lori grabbed said black eye as she growled like an enraged dog.
"That is the problem with this household, you don't want to change for the better!" Leni shouted, no longer caring about the time it was. "To you, and maybe everybody else, I might just be an idiot you can take advantage of, or make fun of whenever you feel bored, but I can be more than that! I am more than that, and if you won't change for the better, I will force you to change!"
"Classic Leni, talking about stupid nonsense not even she understands," Lori said, regaining her composure a couple seconds later. "Alright, dumb little Leni, stop acting like a jerk and go back to normal!"
"Dumb little Leni is no longer here," Leni stated, her voice gaining a hostile tone.
Leni walked to Lori, grabbed her by the shirt and pulled the phone-obsessed teenager to her face. As Lori gave Leni a defiant glare, and got an amused sneer in return, the atmosphere around the room changed as the sisters arrived. Once they went inside, they immediately felt a chill go up their spines as Leni turned to look at them with an annoyed look.
"L-Leni?" Lola blurted, hugging Lana in fear.
The blonde released Lori, pushed her away and walked to her sisters while forcing a toothy smile. This did nothing but further disturb the girls.
"That's right, I'm just Leni," the teenager chirped, her smile growing wider. "Not little dumb Leni, not Leni the Dumb, just, Leni. And if you wish for Leni to remain in a good, you'll make sure to call Leni by her name, Leni, and not any stupid nicknames you may have had for her."
And then Leni crouched and leaned closer and closer to Lola's face. "Because I know you've used nicknames in the past. Insulting nicknames. Offensive nicknames. Mean nicknames. You've used every type of nicknames, and among the worst ones belong to me. Am I right, Lola? I am, aren't I?"
"Leni's getting mean!" Lola whined to her sister, shedding tears.
"Okay, Leni, we get it," Luna stated, grabbing and pushing Leni back a bit. "We came down here to see what was going on, but it seems like it's between you and Lori. So, just try to be quiet, we're trying to sleep."
"Got it!" Leni chirped.
The sisters left the room as Leni flashed a malicious smile and look at Lori, who flinched with worry.
"Leni is here to stay, remember that," Leni stated, narrowing her eyes.
Sometime later, at the hospital...
Lincoln was suddenly awoken when some bright, purple lights flashed in his face, followed by an ear-piercing screech. He quickly looked around and saw Cristina being electrocuted by a random doctor and nurse.
"W-Wait, what are you doing?!" Lincoln asked, only to stop on his tracks as his chest wound acted up. "Stupid knife injury!"
And then another doctor came in and made Lincoln lay back on the bed. "You have to stay down, Mr. Loud," the doctor told the boy. "If you move too much, your wound could potentially get
"But I have to do something about what they're doing to her!" Lincoln replied, grabbing his belly and turning back to Cristina. "Not only does she seem to be in pain, but angering her is one of the worst mistakes anybody could do!"
"Listen, Mr. Loud, let the professionals handle the medical issues, okay?" the doctor replied, right before the doctors stopped electrocuting Cristina. "There, her organs have been stabilized, and she'll be fine for a while. So please relax, okay?"
"Stabilization?" Linc repeated with worry.
The doctor just glanced at the redhead, then at Lincoln, and finally left the room with the other doctor and nurse. Once that was done, Lincoln tried to calm down... while the electrocuted Cristina watched him with a terrified, pained stare.
"You did... nothing..." Cristina muttered, sounding both betrayed and disappointed. "You stood there... and did... nothing..."
"What did you want me to do? I was stabbed, and if I move too much, the injury could get worse, the doctor said that just now," Lincoln answered, narrowing his eyes and turning away before adding, "Besides, after all you've done, you should be happy I even thought helping you in the slightest."
However, Cristina soon got up-though with some notable difficulty-as she hissed, "You did nothing!" and then she leaped straight for Lincoln's bed. "You did the same thing "they" did, you did nothing!"
And then, without warning, Cristina started kicking Lincoln's knife injury, causing the boy to scream in agony. "You are just like them! Uncaring, apathetic, willing to let even innocent people suffer as long as you don't wind up hurt in the process!" Cristina hissed before getting on top of Lincoln and strangling him.
"Look who's talking!" Lincoln scoffed, putting on a smug smile as he shed tears.
Cristina missed the saying and just continued strangling the boy until the doctors from before returned with a familiar female nurse, who grabbed Cristina, put her back on her bed and applied some knock-out gas on the redhead, who immediately realized who this woman was.
It was Carol Pingrey.
And as she fell unconscious, the remaining docters went to check on Lincoln and stabilized his stab wound before it got any worse.
"Don't worry, everything's okay now," told the first doctor to Lincoln. "We managed to find nurse Carol downstairs, she simply arrived late. As usual."
The doctor beamed Carol an angry look, while the woman just rolled her eyes in response. "Now that you mention that, where is the doctor I was assigned?" Lincoln inquired.
"He's busy with something on another room, but he should be available later," the second doctor explained. "His name is Dr. Archer, an expert when it comes to closing wounds and fixing up internal damage."
"Good to know," Lincoln said. "Can you guys stay here with me until then? I don't feel safe with... her, around."
"Don't worry, kid, Carol won't do anything to you," the first doctor reassured.
Lincoln was quick to correct the old man. "I'm talking about her patient."
"Oh... well, I don't know what to say other than, we can't stay here, we have some business to attend to," the second doctor answered. "But Carol will stay here, so you have nothing to worry about."
"That's what you say," Lincoln thought as the doctors left and Carol finished knocking out Cristina.
With that done, Carol sat down and gave Cristina an annoyed look, while the redhead twitched from the electrocution. "Okay, Cristina, I sure hope you remember me," Carol told the redhead. "You know, the woman who you screwed over for your clustermess of a plan?"
"Wait, you used to work for Cristina?" Lincoln asked, his interest instantly caught.
Cristina flashed Carol a look that basically told her to stay quiet and not reveal anything about her involvement. Unfortunately, Carol wasn't exactly working for the redhead at the moment now, was she? So she walked to Lincoln, sat next to him and gave Cristina a malicious sneer.
"Well, that's an interesting story, actually," Carol remarked.
Back at the Loud House...
The Loud sisters gathered at the kitchen and ate their breakfast... well, most of them did. Leni, instead, drank her coffee nearby, watching her sisters intently. "I have to act natural, if any of these annoying little pests start thinking I'm acting weird, my whole plan is going to be derailed!" Leni thought, taking a sip from her coffee.
"Leni sure is acting weird, isn't she?" Lynn blurted, with the rest of the sisters nodding in agreement. "Do you think she's hiding something?"
"She's turning into a discount Lori, so she's bound to keep something hidden from us," Lucy argued.
Lori got ready to argue back... and then shrugged and nodded in agreement. "Yo, Leni, if you have something to tell us, just say it, okay?" Luna told Leni without even looking at the girl, causing her to spit out her drink.
"Did you learn nothing from when you asked me to go on a date?" Luan scolded, but Luna just shrugged in response.
"Come to think of it, is there anything you're hiding from us, Leni?" Lori inquired, getting up and walking towards the teen girl. "I mean, you do seem like you're trying to act natural, which somebody only does if they're hiding something."
"What, do you think I'm going to do the same mistakes you did?" Leni scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"Again, you're trying to turn into a discount Lori," Lucy pointed out. "What else did you expect?"
"L-Listen, I know you may think that I'm hiding stuff, and I probably am, but you have to trust me," Leni said, shivering a little. "After all, if you could trust somebody like Lori, why can't you trust me?"
The sisters narrowed their eyes, obviously not falling for Leni's explanation. After changing from a nice-natured girl to what basically amounted to a dumber Lori, they simply couldn't trust her word that easily anymore.
"Leni, I'm afraid there's one big problem with your explanation," Lori slammed her fist on the table. "I don't speak bullshit!"
"Dang it! That's the only other language I know!" Leni thought with worry.
"Now come on, tell us what you're hiding!" Lori ordered, with the other sisters nodding in agreement. "What's going on at the hospital that's bothering you so much?"
The teenager took a look around, then promptly caved in when she saw she had no other choice:
"Lincoln is sharing a room with Cristina as we speak."
Speaking of Lincoln and Cristina...
The kids continued to rest in their beds, with Carol getting ready to electrocute Cristina again. While Lincoln rested calmly, however, Cristina looked like she was ready to murder Carol at any moment, with the look growing even more murderous as Carol electrocuted her. And as that happened, his assigned doctor, Dr. Archer, entered the room... with a large, red handprint on his left cheek.
"Greetings, Lincoln," Dr. Archer greeted.
"Oh hey, a doctor," Linc remarked before pointing at Cristina, who was constantly kicking Carol's chin. "Can you tell me what is Carol doing to Cristina?"
"You know the girl?" Dr. Archer asked in surprise.
Linc answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "We're classmates. And no, we're not romantically interested in each other,"
"Your romantic life is of no concern of mine," Lincoln definitely agreed. "Anyway, your friend here has to be constantly stabilized with electricity, otherwise she might end up facing grave danger."
This caught Lincoln's attention in an instant. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure how to tell you this in terms normal people would understand, so in short, the electrocution caused her organs to gain an erratic beating rhytm," Dr. Archer explained, and though Lincoln didn't understood a word he said, he was at least able to tell it was anything but good. "Until her body can re-adjust to the normal beating speed, electric shocks are required in order to keep her current beating stable while the body adjusts."
"What would happen if she wasn't stabilized?" Linc inquired, almost sounding worried for the redhead.
The doctor didn't respond, instead, he went to Cristina's side of the bed and helped the other doctor electrocute her. As this happened, Lincoln winced as Cristina was electrocuted, followed by her hitting the bed, twitching spastically. Once that was done, the redhead slowly turned to Lincoln, shedding tears and trying her hardest to hold back crying.
"Is this... necessary?" she weakly asked, sounding utterly terrified of the possibility.
"Either they do that to you and stabilize you, or something even worse befalls you," Lincoln answered in a deadpan tone. "And before you ask, I'd probably care a bit more about it if only you hadn't played with my sisters' emotions and hurt me and my family physically and mentally."
"But Lincoln, that is necessary," Cristina replied, still sounding terrified. "But these shocks... I don't think they're necessary."
"Who cares about what you think? You need to be shocked or else something bad will happen, end of story," Lincoln stated. "So shut your trap and deal with it!"
Dr. Archer narrowed his eyes and Cristina flashed a glare as Lincoln crossed his arms... and Carol applauded. "Very nicely said, boy," the woman said with a chuckle. "Now, how about we change the mood and turn on the TV?"
Cristina turned back to Carol and smiled as she joyously nodded. So Carol took the control remote, turned on the TV, and left it at the Blarney Rangers show. The redhead was pleased to see the show, Dr. Archer and Carol both struggled with it and Lincoln... was confused.
"You like this kind of TV?" Lincoln asked Cristina. "This show is typically for very young kids, about 4 to 6 year olds, you know?"
Cristina just flashed a murderous scowl at Lincoln, who immediately shut up and went back to watching the show with Cristina, who also returned to her happy mood.
-Next Chapter Preview-
Lori argued with Dr. Archer about Lincoln, and by arguing, she was basically grabbing him by the neck and pulling him closer to her as she barked at him. "What do you mean we can't take Lincoln back home with us?!" she shouted right at Dr. Archer's face. "He would be far safer there than here with that crimson lunatic!"
"The hospital policy prevents any patients from leaving the facility until they have fully recovered," the doctor replied. "If you take him back with you right now, his condition could potentially worsen."