Hi, I'm back again. Something a bit different from my usual standard fare, I suppose.
Let me take you to a brief trip back in time for a sec. This was a fairly old and long dormant story idea I had. How old? Around the same time several months back when I first had the ideas for and began working on the likes of "The Intervention Game", "Fortunate Reprieve", "Help was Right in Front of You" and "Emotional Refund". I never thought it would be something I'd ever actually write, but here we are and I think it turned out pretty decently.
Enjoy!
The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.
It was a nice sunny afternoon in Royal Woods, perfect for a spot of sport and/or play, such as for instance a game of hacky sack.
In fact, that was exactly what Lynn and Lana Loud were in the middle of at moment while out in the front yard of their house. The game started fairly basic until…
"Get ready, Lana!" Lynn declared.
The older and sporty of the two sisters lobbed the sack up further and higher than before, perhaps as a means to test the tomboy twin.
"I got it, I got it, I got it!" Lana shouted.
She dashed halfway across the yard as the sack came closer to her until she performed a slide and it conveniently landed on the tip of her shoe.
"Whoa-ho, nicely done, Lans!" Lynn said very much impressed.
"Thanks, sis!" Lana responded, "I do learn from one of the best after all."
"Aw, puh-shaw..." Lynn said in mock embarrassment, "But go on..."
After that exchange, the game resumed with Lana kicking the sack back up in the air.
Just a little over a minute later, a small pink jeep approached from the distance and zipped around until it and it's occupant, Lola Loud, came to a stop just right up at the garage.
"Hey, Lola, heads up!" Lana yelled.
Without another thought, she lobbed the sack in the direction of her twin sister, but Lola hardly reacted when it casually bopped her in the head and rolled off on the driveway.
"Lola…?" Lana uttered softly.
All Lola did next was put her hands over her face and stepped out of her jeep. She tried avoiding her two sisters, but that proved to be fruitless when the oldest of the present company came up to her.
"Hey, is there something wrong, Lola?" Lynn asked her.
For a brief second, Lola again tried in getting away, but Lynn held her in place by the shoulders. She released a whimpering sigh and reluctantly pulled her hands away from her face.
What Lynn and Lana would see as a result would horrify them both with a gasp.
"Lola, what happened to you?!" Lynn said aghast.
A quick glace at the pageant princess's face showed an alarming amount of damage having been done. Among the harm inflicted on Lola included a black eye, bruising on her right cheek, a cut on her left cheek, a dried up trickle of blood coming down her nose and a little bit of swelling on the bottom right side of her lower lip. All in all, it amounted to an excess sum of roughing up no kids of any kind should ever go through, certainly not to a six-year-old especially.
"Lols, did someone beat you up?" Lana asked, worried greatly about such a prospect.
Instead of answering her twin sister's question, Lola closed her eyes and scrunched herself up as she sat on the ground.
"Come on, Lola, I really think you should tell us." Lynn implored her, kneeling down to the side of her little sister, "Who did this to you and why?"
Again, Lola chose to remain mum about how she ended up like this for several seconds. But after a sigh, she attempted in mustering up the effort to explain what happened.
"They...they...they were..."
Despite her best efforts, Lola appeared too traumatized in the moment and instead she slowly broke down into tears until it became all out sobbing.
As her little sister was crying and unable to say who, how and what lead up to this, Lynn simply chose to bring Lola over to her in a hug, softly shushing her and patting her back in attempting to soothe her.
For her own part, Lana put her hand on Lola's shoulder. It was soon after that she had her own theory as to what might've happened.
"Did a bunch of your pageant competitors gang up on you or something? I know hearing from you that the world of the six-year-old beauty pageant circuit can be fierce, but could it be that bad?" She wondered.
"No..." Lola finally spoke up again, "I-it was s-some..."
She almost was about to work up the courage to reveal the identities of her assailants, but something caught the corner of eye and made her pull away from Lynn's arms in sheer terror.
"AAH! They followed me here!"
Lola sprang up to her feet and hid behind Lana. At the same time, Lynn turned around and could just about make out to see a trio of kids approaching from the horizon. Based on Lola's fearful reaction, they must have been whoever done the unspeakable deed and just from what little she could see, they weren't any ordinary kids, either.
"Lana, get Lola back inside the house now, and stay with her." Lynn ordered.
"But-" Lana tried to say.
"Now!" Lynn repeated firmly.
The clarity in her big sister's voice made Lana obey and she took her twin sister with her into the house. Meanwhile, Lynn stood up as the three kids came closer. She soon found out they were two boys and a girl, plus she realized that it looked like they could be around her age, older or younger give or take a year or two in either direction. Knowing this, a scowl formed on her face.
"Hey, did you jerks beat up my little sister?!" Lynn demanded to know.
The kids were now just a couple feet away from her and Lynn now had a clearer view of them. One had something of a greaser look to him, the second boy sported a mullet and looked as if he came from a trailer park and the lone girl had a punk rock motif going on with her. The greaser kid stepped forward, presumably showing he was the leader of this trio.
"Hey, simmer down there, girlie." He said in a smarmy manner.
"Don't tell me to simmer down, you son of a-" Lynn was saying, but cut herself off and wanted to get straight to the point, "Who the hell are you anyway and I ask again, did you all beat up my sister?"
"Well, if you need to know, the name's Nick. This here's Sean and she's Emerald. And if you're talking about that whiny, bratty blondie…sure, we did a number on her, but she had it coming!" Nick said with no sense of regret.
"Yeah, she had it coming!" Sean repeated tauntingly.
"And to think she tried putting on this cute little tough girl act at first, but that didn't last long..." Emerald said, laughing snottily.
Soon all three of them were laughing, and every utterance and breath they took was only enraging Lynn ever more.
"Well, you must all feel oh so proud of yourself to rough up a six-year-old, huh?! Nothing should excuse that! Cowards, the lot of you!" She said with a growl.
Nick scoffed, "Hey, she bumped into us without so much as looking, then she went on this stupid little rant about our clothes. She said I looked like I was already going through a midlife crisis at my age!"
"Yeah, and she called mine old and ratty!" Sean said, rolling his eyes, "Doesn't she know the meaning of 'dependable'?"
"'You look like you have serious daddy issues'." Emerald added, likely imitating what Lola might've said, "Pssh, I like what I make of myself! The nerve of her to judge me for something I don't have in my personal life!"
Lynn waved her hand dismissively, "Well, I don't care if she called you the worst dressed or anything else like that, because beating her up like I imagine you did is uncalled for, you cowards! Again, cowards, in case you're deaf!"
"Oh yeah? Did she tell you that she tried biting, kicking and slapping us around? Safe to say she'll never do that again…" Sean mentioned.
"Well, that didn't turn out well for her." Emerald added with wicked smile.
"Yeah, and we didn't quite finish the job, so if you could step aside..." Nick concluded menacingly.
"Hell. No." Lynn said defiantly, "You mess with my family, you mess with me, and I'm never gonna take that lying down!"
"Me neither!"
Confused as to where that voice originated from, Lynn looked to her side to see Lana having rejoined the scene.
"Lana, what are you doing back out here?! I told you to stay with Lola! Get back inside!" She admonished her younger sister sternly.
Lana shook her head, "Nuh-uh! I'm not gonna sit back and let these jerks get away with hurting my twin sis! They mess with one Loud, they mess with us all!"
"Lana, I command you to..."
Whatever Lynn was ordering Lana to do could not be complete when she was blindsided by the trio of thugs blasting on by and knocking her onto the ground. When she shook the cobwebs and looked up, she saw them surrounding Lana looking in preparation to gang up on her.
Undeterred by the odds, Lana growled fiercely and started wildly swinging, clawing and biting at whomever she can make contact with, but the flurry didn't last long as one smack across the face knocked her to the ground, followed by feeling a stiff kick to her ribs.
But whatever this dastardly, dastard threesome had planned next for Lana came to screeching halt when first Sean got clobbered by a vengeance fueled fist by Lynn, then a spinning backfist laid out Emerald and finally a powerful kick sent Nick hurtling into the tree in the front yard. After those three were taken care of, she rushed to the side of her fallen sister.
"Lana...back inside...now!" Lynn said between breaths.
This time around, Lana heeded those words without question and ran back for the safety of their home. Meanwhile, Lynn felt like she was only getting started with these three cowardly mongrels who now had committed harm against both of her little twin sisters.
First, she pulled Sean up by his shirt collar to his knees before delivering a knee strike under his chin. Next, as Nick staggered up to his feet and tried lunging after Lynn, she ducked and decked him with an uppercut that sent him flying and landing next to Sean. Finally, she grabbed Emerald, hoisted her up and launched her like a lawn dart over to the two boys, laying all three of them into a heap.
"Ha, you three don't seem so tough now when you're not ganging up on a six-year-old or dealing with some who can actually handle herself in a scrap!" Lynn declared in a braggadocios manner.
Her demeanor would however quickly shift to a much deadly serious one when she approached the fallen pile of assailants closer and shot them a menacing glare.
"But that's what you get for hurting my little sisters, and honestly, I went pretty easy on you. If I catch you trying to harm anyone in my family again or even so much as come back here...none of you will live well enough to tell the tale. Got it?"
As an exclamation point, Lynn nonchalantly stepped down hard of this laid out trio and casually walked back into her home.
When she came back inside, Lynn exhaled and felt relieved that brief, but messy episode had been put behind her. She boasted often about dealing out some beatings to anyone who'd be stupid and foolish enough to ever threaten the well being of anyone in her family. But saying it and putting it into practice were two separate concepts and even she can admit that getting physical in the name of familial defense was an event she rarely wanted to take part in and only when it was really necessary.
"Whoo, that was awesome, sis!" Lana shouted,, "You kicked those jerky butts'….uh, butts!"
Lynn laughed mildly, "Thanks, Lana. Now, where's Lola?"
Lana pointed over to indicate to her big sister that her twin was sitting over at the corner of the living room shaking and with her face buried in her knees. Lynn approached her and again brought her into a hug, where Lola immediately clung on in response.
"Hey, it's okay, Lola. It's all over and you're safe. Those punks will never hurt you again..." Lynn assured.
She held on to Lola for a minute longer, then she pulled back and again observed the damage on her little sister's face.
"Speaking of which, we should take care of all that's been done to your face. Here..."
Lynn hauled Lola up into her arms and carried her along, passing by Lana for a moment.
"Hey, Lana, I'm gonna take Lola up to your room and if you don't mind, can you give me and her some time alone so I can have a talk with her on top of treating her?" She requested to the other twin.
"Uh...okay, I guess so." Lana answered a little confused.
After taking a second to see Lynn carry her twin sister upstairs with her, Lana looked out the front window and saw that the three "jerky butts" as she so colorfully dubbed them finally picking themselves off from the ground and leaving, chuckling as she watched them go.
"Well, just goes to show that if you mess with one Loud, you mess with us all and you'll live to regret it." She said out loud.
Meanwhile, Lynn had brought Lola up to her room and sat her down on her bed.
"Sit tight while I get a few things, okay?" Lynn told her.
Lola nodded softly and patiently waited for a couple of minutes. When that time surpassed, her sister returned with a handful of medical supplies.
"All right, first let's put this over your black eye and hold it in place for me while I take care of everything else." Lynn said.
She took an ice pack and put it on the right eye of Lola, the one that suffered the damage. Like Lynn advised her, Lola held it right in place to free up her older sister's hands in treating the other wounds.
"Now, this is gonna sting a little, but it will help with that cut on your left cheek." Lynn mentioned.
Next, she put a tiny amount of disinfectant on a cotton ball and gently dabbed it on her sister's cheek. As expected, Lola winced slightly with each dab, but the discomfort was only momentary and once she was done, Lynn applied a bandage over the cut. She would also place a larger one on the bruising on Lola's right cheek as well and then finally Lynn used a tissue to wipe down the dried up blood that had trickled down her sister's nose.
"There, I think that'll do. As far as the swelling on your lip is concerned, I don't think it's too serious, so it should go away by itself." Lynn said, "But with that being said and done, there are a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about, Lola..."
She sat down next to her little sister on the bed and placed an arm around her.
"Just before I whomped those jerks for doing this to you, they said something about how you bumped into them, dressed them down if you pardon the pun about their clothes and then you tried attacking them. Is all of that true?"
"Yeah..." Lola answered after some silence.
Lynn sighed deeply, "Well...if that's the case, I can't sit here and deny that none of those things you did were smart on your part. Those kids were older, bigger, and despite not seeming too bright from what I can tell, much tougher than you. You should have know better than provoking them like that."
"I know, and it was wrong of me to do!" Lola said regretfully, "It's because I'm too mean! I was born a complete meanie and I'll always be one! And maybe I had this coming for all the times I've ever been so mean!"
She sniffled, put aside the ice pack and began tearing up again, rolling her face into Lynn's shoulder. In response, the sporty older sister brought the younger princess a little closer.
"Lola, nobody, and I repeat nobody will ever argue that the roughing up you went through was deserved and anybody who claims otherwise should be ashamed of themselves." Lynn said definitively.
She held Lola for another couple of minutes as the upper sleeve of her jersey got stained with a mix of tears and leftover blood from her little sister's injuries.
"And let me tell you something about you claiming to be too mean..." Lynn resumed speaking, "I don't think anyone in our family will deny that you do have a bit of a bratty side, but that is far from who you really are and you definitely were not born like that."
"You...you don't t-think s-so?" Lola asked, lifting her head up.
Lynn smiled, "I don't just 'think' so, I know so. You can be super nice and if you don't believe me, I can think of a few examples. From taking the blame for the dumb things we kept secret from Mom and Dad just so you could earn the trust of me and all our siblings to join our secrets club, to getting Lincoln his victory undies even after he lost that bet of our and drove it into us about how we should accept each other's annoying habits and also the time when you came to Lincoln's defense after we thought it was all his fault for us losing the library's pizzeria contest when in fact it was due to him helping you learn to read. Would someone who's supposedly born mean do any of those things?"
Lynn scooted back some so she could fully face Lola and wrap things up from there.
"I guess if there's a broader point to all of this is if I wanted to make one, it's that we all have our negative qualities, but we should never let them define who we are. At the end of the day, this whole entire family is filled with caring and good at heart people and that absolutely includes you, Lola."
Through the tears and any self doubts within her, Lola gave Lynn a very happy smile and tightly hugged her.
"Thank you, Lynn. You're so smart, sweet and nice yourself!" She said merrily.
"Well, I try in aiming to be those things, even if I don't succeed all the time." Lynn stated with a bit of embarrassment.
"You don't just aim for them, you are them." Lola corrected her sister wholeheartedly.
In full admiration of those words and of the sister who said them, Lynn returned the hug that Lola started as they held each other for a little while.
Afterwards, Lola chose to head on out and give Lynn a moment to gather up all the supplies she brought. Right as the former peeked her head out, she saw Lincoln on his way to the bathroom and just for the heck of it, she rushed on up and hugged him from behind.
"Hey, Linky! How's the best big brother in the world doing?" She asked.
"Oh, hey Lola! I'm doing..."
By the time Lincoln turned over to his younger sister in mid-sentence, he gasped upon looking at the wear and tear on her face.
"Lola, are you okay? What happened?" Lincoln wondered worriedly as got down to her level.
"Oh, don't worry about me, Lincoln. Lynn took care of things and I couldn't be more glad that she did. So really, I'm fine and I just wanted to show my big brother some appreciation!" Lola said, "And there's nothing wrong with that, is there?"
Just as quickly she came up to him, Lola gave Lincoln a smile and left him in favor of going downstairs. Shortly after, Lynn emerged with the supplies and as she came along, Lincoln thought he may as well inquire to her about whatever happened to their younger sister.
"Hey Lynn, what was the deal with Lola? She looked sort of banged up." Lincoln said.
"Well...long story short, some seriously no good punks roughed her up, they somehow followed her back home, I took care of them LJ style, tended to Lola after that...oh, and talked to her and reminded her that she's not some sort of mean little girl and is actually quite nice like the rest of us." Lynn said, giving the condensed version of the preceding events.
As she too went downstairs to return some of the supplies with her, Lincoln stood by still quite confused by everything. However, despite that, he did grin a little in Lynn's direction, happy to hear that she appeared to have done something admirable in defense of and in treating Lola and as long as she was okay, then that's the best he could ask for.
Later in the evening close to bedtime, Lynn was in her room bouncing a tennis ball against the wall in front of her bed. Seconds later, she heard the door being knocked on.
"Who's there?" She asked.
"Me! Open up, my hands are full!"
Curious as to what that could mean, Lynn obliged and opened the door.
There stood Lola holding a tray of cupcakes, a row of four on top and two more on the bottom. The positioning was such due to each of them having two letters written in icing that ultimately spelled out "Thank You, Lynn".
"Whoa, Lola!" Lynn said impressed, "I thought I smelled something baking not too long ago. Did you make these yourself?"
"Well, not entirely, as I did have some help from Daddy and Leni, but I wanted to do this as my way of thanking you for what you did for me today, Lynn..." Lola replied sincerely.
"Aw, well, that's very nice of you, Lola, though I don't think I'd be able to eat them all." Lynn said with a little chuckle, "Yes, me of all people unwilling to not eat everything presented to me, but we did have a pretty hefty dinner after all."
Lola shook her head, "Oh, I'm not asking that at all, but could you at the very least take the two that spell out your name? Please? Can you do that, best big sister in the world?"
Lynn couldn't help but smile, "Okay, okay, sure. I mean, it's not like we can let these go to waste...especially knowing the nice little sis who her hand in making them."
She took the two cupcakes which spelled her name and just as soon as she did that, Lola stood up on her tippy toes and leaned over to give her big sister a kiss on her cheek, resulting in Lynn blushing a little. Then, Lola winked at her and went off to see whoever can lay claim to the remainder of the cupcakes.
As Lynn closed the door to her room and returned to her bed, she took a bite into one of the cupcakes and smiled. The taste had a particular sweetness to it...just as sweet as the sister who she would do anything for and who she reminded is as nice as everyone else in their family can be, as this confectionery gesture has indeed proven and beyond.
Aw...even I get touched when writing and reading my own fanfics. Actually, I think most every author feels that way the more I think about that, so I'm hardly unique in that front I bet.
That's does it for now. Thanks very much and I will see you again soon!