Chapter 15: Beneath the Pale Moonlight
On most dawns, Royal Woods would be blanketed in a series of groans and unkempt murmurs by many of its residents, least of which would have been those of the town's Goth community. The sun pierced their skin and stabbed at their unadjusted visions, but not a single one of them could spite the celestial star on that morning. Few people may have wanted to rise from their slumber, but on a Friday children tended to be more eager than usual to get their scheduled education over with and move onto the luxuriating weekend beyond or whatever afterschool activities they might have had planned. And for the shadowy portion of the town's youth, their activity held more precedence than most with what they had been readying themselves for on that week's end. Having been unable to sleep, Persephone paced about her room and occasionally swung her body into more fluid motions. She hoped beyond hope that she had gotten the steps for the basic dances down. Morpheus meanwhile had been checking to make sure his glasses had been polished to the most effective dim translucency that he could muster. With the caw that his crow gave upon its examination of the item he knew he had little to fear. And deep in the woods, one of the leaders of the Royal Woods Elementary School Mortician's Club watched as the older Goths of the town continued their preparations for the event that the awakening gothic residents were preparing for, the staff's figures shrinking as her parent's station wagon drove her away from her nightly participation in the its construction.
Perhaps it was Edwin reminding the occupants of the coffin he rested near or some internal alarm manufactured by the preset excitement, but before the beams of the sun had even attempted to bleed their way through the drapes of the windows of the house belonging to arguably the largest family in Royal Woods, the lid of the coffin that their own goth frequently claimed as her bed creaked. With a surprising amount of resistance, the Mortician's Club's other figurehead fought to lift herself up alongside the lid that her body was moving. She knew that her body craved the serenity of finality that her resting place brought, and an unusual amount of beckoning warmth from it on that morning, but she also knew that she had get ready. Tugging and pulling as hard as her sleep-ridden limbs would allow her to, Lucy's back eventually rocked the lid of the coffin hard enough so that what little light there was from the setting dusk drizzled through the crack she'd made, and what she saw painted her face crimson.
All at once it came back to her. The day off, the practicing, the...flirting...the boy that...lay beneath her... Her body may have known that she had had to get up, but in her groggy state she'd been oblivious towards the details as to why. Looking at him...her face glowed more and more with each memory that filed back into her head. It was too much. Unable to leave under the vividness of her mentality, Lucy collapsed back onto the softly snoring boy and burrowed her face into his body. She wasn't sure if it had been his stomach or his chest, but she knew that she liked it. The warmness. The smell. The...life. Her half-conscious mouth slacked as she ran her face across the area leaving a drizzle of saliva in its path. While she eventually realized and corrected the state of her mouth, she hardly noticed the wetness it'd left when she came to a rest under his chin. She had never in her life felt the sensations she was enduring...well...at least not until that last night. She couldn't remember the details. Her mind operated more in shapes and colors with how vague it recollected her fading consciousness once they had settled into...comfortable positions within the coffin. What she could...feel of the splinters of her mind however was that those feelings that her shell brimmed with were the same as those that she'd had when the dreams began to take hold the night before. And it was that comfort that she was elating in under the boy's jaw. If she could have she'd have stopped time to enjoy the body for a few more hours.
"Siiigggghhh..." she said quietly and slowly as her body crept across his. First her left shoulder lifted and climbed higher up on the arm it had rested on followed soon after by the other one. There was no stopping the flame of her face, but in the depths of her cryptic dwelling there was no reason to hide the unseen color. Part of her wished to know what movements the boy might make in response, but the slow rise and fall of his slumbering chest brought its own comfort and did away with the hesitancy that one might have had towards the gestures. Lucy herself might have had some reservations to the nature, and a week before she most likely would have distanced any inkling of such a notion, but under the veil of blindness and the drive of a more primal sleep-driven mentality her body moved more on its own than within a reasoned control. To have such a...companion to awaken to...to rest one's self against. She knew not what it could have felt like until their nap. She'd slept with him before...but never in the confinings of the box they now lay in, and not under the alliance they'd developed.
Desiring more, Lucy's fingers wrapped loosely around the boy's forearms and pulled her head up towards his. Opening her mouth, she ran her lower jaw along his throat. As her upper teeth brushed his own jawline, she heard some sort of mix between a snore and a murmur from the mouth her head trailed against. His slumbering talk only served to deepen the incomprehensibly stained face of the girl who's nose had ran up behind his ear. For moments Lucy lay there pressed against his pulsing form, counting each push of blood, living each beat. The organ pumping in his chest filled her's with an unfailing energy. Delicately she put both sets of her teeth against the neck they'd come to rest against. She wanted it. The blood. His life. His essence. She dreamed of it filling her mouth, of it flooding down her throat. Filling her. Becoming her. Oh how she longed for it. And if she hadn't been still waking from her sleeping state she might have made the bite. It would have been so easy...and so...tantalizing... As her fangs and canines began to press lightly against the outer layer of his skin however she stopped. It would have been so satisfying...but she couldn't. Not with what awaited them that night. It would only worsen what impressions they might have had to make if she gave him such a mark.
Denying herself the taste of the one she delighted in, Lucy's head sunk back down towards his lower neck, though she stopped as she hit his collar. Her face itself had no impediment, but another part of her body had. It hadn't been a blockage of her movement so much as a slow of it though until she'd chosen to stop and rest against the rise that her pelvis had run up against. Her face somehow even hotter than it had been, Lucy hung on Lincoln's shoulders in silence. For what felt like forever her body stay near motionless with the only movement being the sinking of her hips against pressure from her brother's. Tempting fate, the soft rustle of clothing started back up once her body had decided to relive the motion. Pulling themselves up, the hips readjusted themselves and slid back against his body again. The only response Lucy had heard was something of a soft groan from the boy's mouth above. Getting nothing more than that with each pass, her midsection ran up along his a few times more. It didn't take long for Lucy's eyes to roll up towards the top of her head. Truly the sensations within her coffin had been alien to her before that night. But she was enraptured beyond measure by their discovery. For those moments nothing mattered. Not their sisters, not their household, not the world. Just them. Them and their undefinable experience.
Through the rubs and the rests however, one thing did make itself matter. Whether for her distraction or to get her back on track, Lucy's fading mind settled back onto the figure of a boy. It may have been the glimpse of her brother that had flashed it through her brain or a stray thought, but somehow the image of that boy that he looked so much like had fluttered by and slowed the rough tugs down his body that she'd been making with her own. Coming to a stop, she laid her heavily-breathing head against his own frequently beating chest. She was surprised by how much the movements had drained her. With how eager her form was to replenish its ebbed energy she could only assume that she was fortunate to have stopped when she had. Even if ironic, the slowing pulse of her brother's body made it easier to focus on the reason he was in the coffin to begin with. There'd be no point to any of it if she hadn't the energy reserved for that evening. Slowly she turned her head up towards Lincoln's and crawled her's up to it.
"Sigh...rest easy my dark angel. Our time is nigh and your performance awaited," Lucy whispered to his inactive figure. Softly her lips brushed along the underside of his chin. "I would love nothing more than to lay here with you. Truly I would. Just two corpses residing within their eternal rest...but there is work to be done...dear brother. And for that, I must act. Forgive my absence, but there will be time for pleasantries later. I pray that you will know not to make too much commotion until I return," she told the male body as she pushed through the resistance of her limbs and moved the lid of the coffin ever so slowly from its base, "With my awakened state, I must take advantage of the opportunity given to me." Centimeter by centimeter the lid of the box raised and slid so as to refrain from whatever noise a quicker exit might have entailed. In the presence of the room's other owner no precaution was too much. To her credit, Lucy was rather adept in her sneaking nature, but still the tenseness of worry lingered. The near-nonexistent illumination that peered in through the wider opening she'd made however helped to ease the anxiousness. Looking down at her brother, Lucy smiled. She had to put forth all of her effort to not slide back down into his body's welcoming posture. Settling simply for the blush its view gave her, Lucy pushed the lid as far as it would go without alerting their older sister and looked around. As the sound of snoring had predicted, Lynn lay in a bundled mess beneath the rising and falling sheets of her bed.
"Alleviated sigh..." Lucy said to herself as she stretched. She had hardly had doubts in her abilities of stealth, but that made it no easier to sneak around when such a prize lay within her sleeping chamber. Biting her lower lip, she let her eyes slip down to Lincoln once more and felt warmness creep along her cheeks from the adorable snoring mumble he gave. Greedily, her legs clung to his and did their best to glue her seat to him, but her mind had awakened enough to stay focused on her task. With everyone else in the household likely still abiding by their dreams it left the quiet girl with free reign of the building's quarters, and few found more envy than the one towards the end of the upstairs hallway. Prying her lap from his, Lucy pulled herself free of Lincoln and reluctantly slipped out into the room that their "bed" occupied. Just as quietly as she had opened it, Lucy began to slide the lid to the coffin shut. Before Lincoln's image could disappear however her arms stopped moving. She didn't want to leave. Her mind knew that her body hated it, but it had to be done if she wanted the morning routines to go seamlessly. Clenching her teeth, the girl moved the lid to a shut position.
With the hardest part of the operation done, she checked the bed on the other side of the room. Lynn still snored beneath her covers. After whipping her head around a few times to see if there were any other obstacles, Lucy put her hands on the side of the coffin that faced her sister's part of the room. Her closed teeth gritted with the weight she pushed. She was not used to moving the coffin while someone rested within it, but she knew that its hiding would provide better masking for their agenda. It took much more effort than the lid had taken, but eventually Lucy had moved the wooden box to the underside of her bed without making too much noise. Her sneaking normally didn't involve such focus and force. That was probably why, when she slipped out into the hallway afterwards, she put a hand on the wall to prop herself up as she took in a few forcibly silenced gulps of air. With the worn form of her muscles and the irritation that simmered from her waning rest Lucy made her way down the hall. From the snores that she heard from the rooms she passed she knew that some carelessness could be afforded, but even still she did her best to keep in step with her quieted habits. It'd only serve to preserve her ghostly wander. Besides, before too long the alarms of the other children would begin blaring off their warnings. She'd rather not add to their awakening if it could be avoided, especially when the room she was headed towards was so void of occupants.
Although she had been certain of the whereabouts of each of her siblings, Lucy still poked her head into the bathroom before the rest of her body to take a look around. After a few scans from her darting face, the oldest of the single-digit siblings slipped into the empty chamber and set about preparing herself for the day. While the privacy was nice, another benefit to the lonesomeness of her occupancy were the options at her disposal. With the entire collection gathered for the usual necessary group effort they gave in their hygienic care the room tended to be filled with smells of all variants in its vibrant and noisy use. But Lucy only had herself to worry about and that meant peace. Tranquility. All of the hustle and bustle of fighting for the use of the various stations within the bathroom were nonexistent as she took her time at them. Had they been awake the others likely would not have even known that she was in there with how softly she traveled, and with the shadows that she normally blanketed herself in she made her trips effortlessly through the unlit bathroom. It wasn't laziness or carelessness that kept her from flicking the lights on. It was simply how she was. The darkness may have brought others worry and unease, but for her it only provided security and peace.
Once Lucy had made it to the sink however she did have to strain her eyes. Normally she would be able to make out shapes in the dimness of the darkened rooms of the house, but there was something...off about the silhouette that stared back at her through the blackened mirror above the faucet. She leaned her face towards it as close as she could until even her nose pressed up against it, but that only served to make everything else disappear behind the reflection of her pale skin that took up her viewing space. With a huff, Lucy shook her head and walked back over to the light switch, her irritation of the unneeded extra act evident in her heavier mice-like footfalls. Even though she'd been ready for it, Lucy still sucked in a light hiss of air as the lights she turned on burned through her closed eyelids. With how adept she was in the dark, her predetermined trip back to the sink was a nonissue even in her blind state. As her eyes slowly adjusted to the blinding illumination that'd encompassed the room, she began to make out just what had caused her investigation of the shape in the mirror. Staring back at her was a girl who's skin was as pale as the paper she wrote her poems on and who's hair as black as the tar Lincoln compared it to, but the formation of the strands were nothing like they should have been.
"...why's my hair so messy?" she questioned as she blinked her eyes individually. She may have made quite a number of movements since waking up, but the fantasies of restfulness did their best to call her back to her sleeping quarters. "...sigh..." she mumbled. Fighting off the cling of sleep, Lucy rummaged around in one of the drawers of the counter and pulled out one of Leni's wide brushes. On most days Lucy would be content with a simple comb-through, if even that, but with the ruffling that'd been bestowed upon her hair she'd rather not waltz into school looking like she was mimicking Lincoln's hairstyle from when she'd had him temporarily join The Mortician's Club. Not that there was anything wrong with that...on him. He did look pretty ravishing with that getup, but she had her own style. And he was a guy. That was taller. And cute like that. Lucy allowed herself a happy blush as she stroked the brush through her hair. She'd almost hoped he would have kept with the look after their scheme for the Club leadership had concluded. Anyone would have guess that'd he'd slip right out of it once he'd gotten back home, but it was...nice having an older confidant accompanying her in the trappings of her culture. It'd been so extreme an outfit that it'd almost felt genuine.
There was something to be said for the simpleness of his other punk-goth getup when he'd been trying out different looks to break up his predictability for that week or so at school. He may have used Luna's eye shadow, but those black clothes he'd worn trimmed his figure so nicely, and the black dye of his hair topped off its consistency. Noise may not have emitted from her mouth, but she could feel vibrations in her throat as she thought. He really did look...cute in his outfits when she thought about it. Perhaps they'd even find him someone at the Ball. Lucy felt the wings of a bat flutter through her chest at the idea. It would be like a night-terror come true if that happened. They'd be seeing so much more of each other afterwards. Him getting advice on how to please a goth girl. Her testing out looks on him to see what'd look good on her boyfriend. They might even be able to go on double-dates together! Just them and their dates. Lucy's smile rose towards her nose in delight. Just the two of them.
"Hey, is this bathroom occupied or am I "flushing" someone out?" a voice cackled. Her fantasies shattered by the ear-grating noise, Lucy stroked the bristles of the brush through her hair one last time and put it on the side of the counter. She hadn't even turned around before Luan had popped up at her side. "Aw don't go "down the drain" on me," she giggled rubbing her cheek up against the smaller girl's, an action that only distanced the younger one's face from her's, "I only wanted to "brush up" on my "toilet humor"!" Shaking her head, Lucy backed away from the counter as the comedian made a grab at her toothbrush. In the back of her head she'd thought she'd heard some alarms beginning to go off, but she hadn't expected the maniac to materialize behind her. Thankfully Lucy had pretty much finished with her "touching up" by that point. Even as she passed into the hallway she noticed more and more sisters crawling from their sleeping quarters to claim their spot in the bathroom. While a few of them gave her some unpleasant looks due to what she could only assume was jealousy for the day off she'd been granted previously, she paced with confidence. There was little that could distill her zeal for the night ahead. Whatever consequences she had to bear it would all be worth it.
Lynn didn't even seem to notice her as she passed. The jock just slouched in unaware annoyance from whatever lousy awakening she had had. Lucy hardly minded the disinterest with how her relationship with her roommate had been throughout the last week. It was probably for the best that she didn't realize who she'd been walking by based on her annoyed attitude the night before. That defeat really must have gotten to her on Saturday. With the older girl departed from the room however, that left the location solely in her ownership. Thankful to have gotten her morning hygiene out of the way before the others, Lucy slipped into her room and closed the door. Almost immediately she heard a soft "thumping" noise. She tilted her head a couple of times until she heard it again. And then it sounded again after another set of seconds had passed. Realizing what must have given Lynn her rude wakeup call, Lucy dove for her bed's base. A couple of more "thumps" sounded as she pulled and tugged at either end of the coffin to remove it from beneath her sleeping quarters.
Giving the side of the coffin a rap with her knuckles, the noises stopped, and the person within assisted in bouncing the box out into the open once they had realized where they must have trapped. After about half a minute, the object had fully shunted into the dim light that the rising sun provided and Lucy pushed back the lid with a huff. She almost humored the idea of stepping back into the bathroom for a shower with the bead of sweat she felt trickle down her cheek. Looking back up at her was a somewhat dumbfounded Lincoln who slouched into an upward position from where he'd been laying. By the looks of it the attempts to free himself had woken him up more than herself.
"Ya know, I was kind of thinking that I'd wake up with my bed buddy here," he murmured as he scratched his head.
"Sigh, sorry Lincoln. I had to get to the bathroom before everyone else woke up since I was got up first," Lucy apologized, "figured it'd be odd if I waited and we both exited to go to it together. Seemed less suspicious for me to go first and you to go after I got back." Lincoln wrapped his arms around the legs he'd pulled up to his chest and blinked a few times. The light had been a sudden reveal, but moreso his viewing organs wanted a return to their rest that'd been interrupted when his body had noticed how much room it'd had in the coffin. There'd been a lack of...warmth to his lonesomeness. "At least Lynn didn't try to get me up or-"
"Shit! Lynn-"
"Is in the bathroom now," Lucy told him. Looking to the older girl's bed, he wiped the sweat from his brow. He'd completely forgotten about the primary obstacle of the room in his dreaming. But if that obstacle was already out of the way...that meant he probably had a time limit before she returned, and one that he shouldn't be wasting.
"Alright, let's do this!" Lincoln exclaimed trying to get his blood flowing. Grinning, he wobbled to his feet and clumsily stepped onto the floor. Lucy's small smile returned as he wrapped an arm around her waist and spun her around by the hand he grabbed. "You and me...tonight," he said to her as he lowered his voice to monotone. Grinning herself, Lucy grabbed her cheek with her free hand. Kissing her forehead, Lincoln brought the twirl to a stop. He couldn't help but give a little presentation to his debut for her, but he didn't exactly have time to waste. For all he knew Lynn could be marching back to the door as they danced. She likely wasn't with how long she tended to take in the bathroom, but he wouldn't have been respecting Lucy's early preparations if he didn't fall in line with the opportunity she'd given him. He hardly noticed the intensified blush of her wide-smiled cheeks as he peeked into the hallway. Seeing only Leni making her way to the open bathroom further down, he hopped out into the open and followed the dim blond as casually as he could into the bathroom. It was apparently one of the days where everyone was invited to make congregated use of it.
Lincoln found more resistance than usual from the crowd of sisters he tried to push past to get his spot at the sink. The shoves may have irked at his tolerance a bit, but Lily's bathing in the base of the sink that the water trickled into from the faucet put a smile on his face. There was little to be annoyed at when looking at her giggling face. The baby's motions kept his attention from the occasional peers of two of his younger sisters that stood towards his right. Even Luan glanced down at him every now and then from where she flossed between her braces. Lincoln however just watched Lily as he got his toothbrush and began brushing his teeth. For some reason she seemed rather interested in him. Once she realized she wasn't getting her message across to him, the infant grabbed her hair and began pulling it and giggling more. Lincoln raised an eyebrow at her and blinked a couple of times before becoming curious of her focus. Looking up to the mirror his brows did a little hop. Apparently having had their fill of sink usage, the twins departed while Lincoln attempted adjust the white on his head.
"Why's my hair all messy?" he grumbled.
"Ugh, did you see that look on his face?" Lana spat as she stuffed her homework into her backpack. Before she zipped the main pocket on the bag up, she tossed Hopps inside remembering a promise from the day before to let him help sabotage the dissection equipment at school. "He just shoved his way right past us as if we weren't trying to block him," she scoffed as she sealed her inventory.
"Deary, he just looked like he got out of bed," Lola murmured filing away her items a bit more neatly, "Which he had. A bit more ruffled than normal, but coming from bed none-the-less."
"And doesn't it infuriate you?" Lana grumbled. Lola eyed her look-a-like as she tried to analyze the confusing annoyance. "Has the gall to get out of bed before coming to the bathroom," her pathetic ire continued, "Why I have half a mind to strike right now and-"
"Lana, relax," Lola said. Lana looked to the side, her eyes narrowing as Lola came over and put a hand to her cheek. Lola hardly ever saw her sister wrapped in such misplaced anger. It would benefit them though should it be preserved. "Don't worry about Lincoln right now," she told her. Lola could see her eyes tense at the name. "We have school to think about right now," she reminded, "We all agreed that we'd strike when we got back, remember?" Limply Lana nodded her head. "Besides, after school, it's the weekend. We will have NOTHING to worry about when we get back. Just the open field of freedom to do with as we please. No distractions, no next day to get ready for, just free delightful relaxation. And with that freedom I'm sure we'll be at our absolute best condition tackle them, pin them down, and slit their throats!" Lana's slowly rising smile bent in the opposite direction and she pulled her head back at the sudden shift in wording. Catching the resistance, Lola's own mouth shrunk. "...too much?" Lana nodded her head hesitantly. "Sorry. I just like to make sure I'm in-character," Lola explained, "When you're on the stage you give it your all or you give it up." Lana almost fell to the ground once Lola let go of her with how much she'd pulled back. Once she'd regained her balance, Lana recaptured her focus on her twin just in time to see her grab one of her "grenades". "And I DON'T give up..." Lola said stuffing it into her backpack.
Her previous irritation forgotten beneath the severity of her sister's philosophies, Lana resumed the checking over of her stuff to make sure she had everything that she needed. Lola was right. School was the priority for the time being. Who knew? Maybe it'd calm her to a more level-headed state as she woke more and participated in its activities. Lola herself was more than ready to go by the time her roommate had gotten near to her point of completion. As the final pouch began to zip though, their door flung open allowing a taller girl to stroll into the room and slam it shut.
"Geez, loud much?" Lola complained as she rubbed the inside of her ear with her finger.
"Well, we are the Loud House," Lana reminded before turning to the side and winking as if someone was watching them.
"Eh, get over it," Lynn dismissed as she walked over to the table that Lana had used to develop her photos earlier in the week. "Did you two see that guy? Just decides that it's a-okay to walk into the bathroom after getting out of bed," she grumbled.
"I know right?" Lana agreed. Lola just rolled her eyes at the absurd complaints. Lynn twirled her makeshift spear a few times near the counter before making a few jabs. The knife stayed tied up to the end of her sports equipment perfect. Not a wobble showed in the swishes that she attacked the air with. She should have been delighted, but instead her face hung with anxiousness. It was that same hesitancy that she'd felt when they'd put their equipment together the night before. It didn't put up as much of a fight but it was there. Some small part of her in the back of her mind that pushed reservations against their intended goals. She didn't WANT to hurt Lincoln or Lucy...but they weren't giving her much of a choice...were they? They were the ones that chose the vampire mafia life, and if it intruded on others', most importantly her's, they needed to be taken care of. Her swinging slowed with her moral dilemma. But what if...for however slim the chance might have been...they weren't vampires?
Lynn shook her head. That question had presented itself more often than she'd expected ever since she'd begun her alliance with Lana. She hadn't said it, but that had been part of the reasoning behind her relaxation once they'd beaten her in the super hero world that Royal Woods Elementary had been turned into. She may not have admitted it to herself, but...that had likely been a bit of a motive to her easing off on the pair until the fear of what they could do reignited once they'd reported the travesty that their other selves had brought to that other universe. She'd begun to pass off the defeat during the conflict at their school as them being Ace Savvy and The Eight of Spades. She'd fought two literal superheroes. Sure she'd had her own persona and had enlisted, at least from what she could remember, Lana's help in the fight. But once her ally had been dispatched she knew they'd teamed up against her. Had she really had a chance against those odds?
But to throw an entire other Earth into hell with a mistake? Had it even been a mistake? Those two had been suspicious in their own world, so there was no telling what they might have been plotting in that other one before they'd destroyed it. That type of danger...they couldn't just sit by with that lying under the noses right? And then there was the matter of her loss during the basketball match against the goth. That had made no sense what-so-ever and had left an unbridled embarrassment on her otherwise flawless reputation! There was no way that Lucy should have stood ANY chance against her. Not unless she'd cheated...and the more the idea of she and her brother's vampiric alterations had been contemplated, the more her victory had begun to make more sense. Potentially endangering the entire world with zombies was one thing, but to make her a laughing stock by cheating at their basketball match with vampire abilities was unforgivable. And for what? Lincoln? Lynn sliced the air viciously as she thought about the link between the two. THAT had been what'd sparked her entire humiliation. Lucy may have wanted her vampire servant, but she would regret having made a fool of her in front of the neighborhood for it. They both would. No matter what her worries might have been for the two, they were not going to continue whatever unholy agenda they had planned. She and the twins would see to that.
"Kids!" their mother's voice called, "We gotta get going! Grab your stuff and get to the van!" Broken from her impromptu training, Lynn twirled the "spear" one last time before setting its end on the ground. As she looked to the door she caught sight of the more princessecy twin who'd been sitting at her tea-table and watching her performance from where she'd propped her head up by her arm.
"Having fun?" Lola commented eyeing the weapon the older girl had been twirling around.
"At least I'm making sure I got the movements down," Lynn murmured, "What about you? You just gonna tiptoe around in your little dress while they fight back?" The teenager's teasing smirk flipped into a startled frown as Lola pulled out one of her "grenades" and bounced it up and down in her hand.
"Alright alright, both of you calm down," Lana consoled as she approached the door, "Like you said Loes, we got school to deal with first and we're all on the same team. Now you guys both think you're ready for this afternoon or not?" Lola and Lynn looked at each other as if to inspect one another. With who they were they couldn't resist some taunting, but there was no time for it. They had a plan to stick to and it couldn't afford whatever slipups their personalities might bring towards each other. In silent agreement, they looked back to Lana and nodded as Lola got to her feet. "Alright good," Lana nodded back, "Lynn, head to your room and get your stuff. Me and Lola will get down the van. After school...we finish this." The alliance looked between each other in confidence and shared another nod. Determination pumping through them, Lana turned the doorknob.
"Here we go."
The ride in Vanzilla was a bit...odd to say the least. With the absence of Lincoln and Lucy for the previous two days there was a slight readjustment to be had with their return. Those who were expecting more lounging positions were disappointed when they realized the cramped state that the vehicle folded back into as sisters were forced to sit up next to each other. They usually didn't realize just how spacious the seating could be when members were missing until they were back together, but with the white and black haired brother and sister pack being gone for two days in a row some had gotten a bit used to the legroom. Luan hardly seemed to mind however. The placement of the more crowded row she'd shoved herself into just allowed for more frequent jesting. Whispering ideas between each other, Lola, Lana, and Lynn occupied the row the second furthest from the back. Though some of them would occasionally peek over their shoulders towards the back, no one that glanced at them had been surprised that Lucy and Lincoln had taken up the back-most seats of the vehicle. Only those without care for the strangeness of their preferred seating or with too little of an IQ to understand the prolonged oddities of the week didn't notice, but at least half of the vehicle held their concerns for the younger two of the three middle children.
When they'd arrived at the stop for the youngest members of the family Lisa, Lucy, and Lincoln hardly noticed the conjoined pace of the twins who kept their step ahead of their's. They were so in-tune with each other's walk that it almost looked as though somebody had duplicated one girl and put her into two different sets of clothes. The whole while they kept their eyes faced front, but when they got to the doorway of the school they chanced a look back. Though they were thankful for the inattention from their older classmates, they couldn't believe how unaware Lincoln and Lucy were. They looked like they hadn't even noticed that they'd looked back in their direction with how closely they huddled together. They seemed more preoccupied with looking off into either direction so as to hide their smiles from each other. Figuring they were free of any acknowledgement from their targets, the twins looked towards the van as it began to drive off. Before it rolled out of sight they caught eye of the eldest middle child that'd stayed behind to await the departure for her own school. Slowly she lifted a worried hand to wave at them which they gave back with just as much nervousness.
"You two are aware that you need to keep moving if you're gonna make it to your classroom right?" Lisa commented as she passed them. She hadn't even turned her face up to look at their scowls from some schematics she was working on on the hologram of a device that she was carrying. The young genius just continued her ever-steady walk towards the innards of the school with unshowing exuberance towards the playdate she had with Darcy. Lola and Lana did take the words to heart however. Lincoln and Lucy may not have been that keen on taking note of their surroundings, but it would get harder to ignore the two blonds as they got closer. By the time the taller boy and girl had entered the building, Lola and Lana were well on their way towards their classroom leaving Lincoln and Lucy to stroll towards the older ones.
In their trip through the halls, a couple of eyes looked towards them. Each of the owners were those of people that the two knew. Coach Pacowski, Dante, Rusty, Morpheus, amongst a couple of others. But with how close the time was getting for the bells to ring, not many had more to offer than an awareness of the duo. One that did make himself known however was the one practically waiting at the doorway to Lincoln's classroom. Almost immediately Lucy was knocked a few centimeters from her brother by the glomp that Clyde gave him.
"DUDE! You're alright! Oh lord I was so worried!" he cried squeezing the air from Lincoln's crushing throat, "My dads were in full-on panic mode when they heard that you were in some zombie world! I told them you came back, but still! You have no idea how good it is to see ya!" With as much effort as his decreasing bloodflow would allow, Lincoln wormed his fingers between his throat and the stranglehold of his friend. It took a few seconds, but eventually Clyde realized the prying that the boy was attempting to move his arms with and released him. Lincoln's eyes pointed in two different directions as he breathed in gulps of oxygen.
"G-good to s-see ya too...Clyde..." he wheezed as he tried to get back into a more acceptable posture. Giving a sympathetic smile, Clyde rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"S-sorry," he chuckled, "Just...ya know...missed ya man."
"Really?" Lincoln replied managing a smirk from where he slouched. With what he could've sworn was a cracking noise, Lincoln put his hand on his back and pushed it to straighten it back out.
"Come on man! We gotta get in there before the bell," Clyde urged through the slight regret that painted his face. Shaking his head Lincoln started after his friend who slipped through the door but stopped as he felt a tug. He looked back just in time to see a pale hand slip off of the one hadn't been using to manage Clyde with and gave Lucy the smirk he'd given his friend when he noticed the apologetic grin that popped onto her face. In embarrassment, she gave him a shaky wave which he returned. The transaction between the two probably would have taken longer if time had been on their side, but the threat of the morning bell cut their moment short pretty effectively. It was clear that Lucy had a few seconds more of stalling than normal, but all too soon she had broken into a run down the hallway to race against the other kids that were funneling into their classrooms.
To Lincoln's benefit he was only inches from the door he stepped through. When he did he felt like a portion of bacteria that'd been placed under a microscope. He hardly heard anybody's words, but he knew that almost everyone in his class turned their attention to him even if many had slipped back to their previous conversations once they'd recovered from the initial impact of his arrival. He noticed a couple of more stares as he made his way to his expected seat next to Clyde, but none that stayed on him for too long. Even so, it was a bit of a...weird feeling. They weren't constant stares, but from them he could feel a sense of foreignness. Part of them felt like they were viewing him like an alien, though for Zach that was to be expected.
"So how did everything go? Are there any bite marks? Was the recovery alright yesterday? How much Arrgg! did you watch?" Clyde rattled off his questions excitedly. He would have continued but the bell cut him off signalling the start of the school day. As Mrs. Johnson got up and looked over the desks, she noticed one absentee. She was about to mark him as tarty when the tall boy strode through the doors and gave a thumbs-up to his peers.
"Fashionably late," Rusty smirked. He shrugged at the glare Mrs. Johnson gave him and took the seat that she shot her finger towards. The giggling of the other children died down as the teacher started her morning speech.
"Now everyone, settle down. I know it's Friday, but we do have work to get done," she told them, "As you all know next week we will be determining if we'll be taking up the next Save the "Insert Animal Here" Challenge or putting our efforts towards helping to fund a trip to Mars-"
"Let the animals burn!" Zach hollered. The class turned to him in shock at the sudden exclamation. His face pink, the redhead coughed a couple of times, "Eh-I mean...we all remember the name our Polar Bear got." All the students turned back to their teacher in seeming agreement with the complaint. After scanning the faces, Mrs. Johnson folded her arms over her chest.
"What? A number of people would love to have my name!" the teacher huffed, "Anyhow, to prepare for the decision we will be going over the habitats that the potential animal candidates reside in as well as the environment that Mars contains. For discussion purposes we'll also be placing some of the animals onto that planet for-" Lincoln's eyes blinked slowly as Mrs. Johnson's voice blabbed on. Even if the subject was a bit more interesting than others, it was Friday. And with the various ordeals that he'd been through in the past few days it was relieving to just relax and bask in the peaceful non-threatening classroom that her words provided a backdrop for. As she made a menacing pose to display what Lincoln could only guess was supposed to be an animal or some Martian life-form, his mind displayed it as his teacher pantomiming a monster. Almost immediately he started picturing the imagined beast stomping through the woods and tearing up trees. It had to be much more preferable to whatever information their teacher was trying to dispense to them, no matter how excited Clyde might have looked. Besides, his own scenario was probably much more enticing. At the least it'd be more in-line with the culture he was supposed to be mimicking.
As the teacher-monster tore through the woods of his mind, Lincoln's face slouched into the grasp of one of his hands which's elbow had landed on his desk. The stomps and roars of the monster's body made the land beneath it tremble and the leaves of the trees around it rustle. He grinned at the malformed version of Mrs. Johnson that he'd pictured, but that face soon fell away. From over the back of the creature in its latest stomp he'd seen something in his mental landscape. Another stomp confirmed his suspicions. Though he hadn't dwelled on it, his mind had seemed to act on its own in placing the figures into the background of the terrorized forest. Their distant forms became clearer as he zoomed in on their spying eyes. Well...one's eyes. The other's hair refused to allow the sight of her's. As another roar ripped across the land, the imagined version of himself and Lucy grinned at each other before taking a couple of more pictures with their phones. The actual Lincoln couldn't help but smile at their giddiness.
They truly had gotten close hadn't they? That wasn't to say they hadn't been before. Far from it. As shown by the workings of his mind they would accompany each other in the more "cryptid" side of things when the others paid little mind to it, but the scene he'd played...it'd been...different than a mere hunt of Plessy or the freeing of a soul trapped within a hotel air conditioner. They'd been...delighted. The air they exuded...it was the same in their motions and liveliness. She allowed more excitement than normal and he was more tempered in his energy. His hand could feel the easing of his expression. Was that how he saw them? It was true that they...worked off of each other rather seemlessly now. Sometimes they didn't even need a signal from the other to do as the other expected. It was...it was kind of...nice. The symbiosis. Out of the family he figured only the twins had displayed such interlacing, but with Lucy it was...different. There was something...more than mirroring the other with her. Lincoln felt a ripple tremor through him as his face warmed. Was that the feeling of being a...boyfriend? The time for nervousness towards the concept had long since past. In the awkward proudness he only had a smile to show. He had had little doubts of being able to pull off their act that night, but the more he thought about it the more sure he was in their success. If they truly operated as well as he imagined there'd be no question that they'd be able to properly emulate a date.
...and then what? Lucy would have her guy and he would...what? Just fall back into the coziness of his former habits? A week before that would have been exactly how he'd have thought, but with all that they'd been through together...that didn't seem nearly as easy to do as it would have earlier. Lincoln could feel his teeth starting to grind slowly in his mouth. It's not as though they couldn't act out his adopted habits or have Lucy play a couple of games in their spare time afterwards, but their...efforts together. It'd been...surprisingly enjoyable once he'd committed himself to the mission. Would all of that disappear once they were done? Lucy wouldn't need his services any longer so...what about him? A bit forcefully he shook his head. What was he worrying about? She was his sister. His FAVORITE sister. And he knew that she cared about him more than she did most people. Of course the whole boyfriend aspect would vanish following their success, but they'd always have each other. If nothing else their agenda had helped them to understand each other better for how they'd operate in the future. It may have been fun "playing house" with her for the past two weeks, but their intimacy was not something people of their relationship should truly miss...right?
Even if he smiled at the quelling of his fears, the milling beneath his face dwelled on some unrealized aspect of the conclusion of their mission. What it was however, he had little knowledge of, nor would he get the chance to deduce its nature. Instead his shoulders and head jumped as he heard a voice from the teacher that'd stepped up next to him in his daydreaming.
"Well Lincoln, since you're finding the Challenges so interesting, perhaps you can explain to us what happens when you walk across the Martian surface," Mrs. Johnson suggested. Lincoln's lips puckered as all of his classmates looked to him. Clyde gave no help with the view of equal interest that he gave to Lincoln.
"You uh...start dying?" he shrugged.
"When you're wearing a space suit," Mrs. Johnson elaborated. Lincoln's shoulders slumped. Of course she'd come up with a way to jab at his unpreparedness. But he wasn't one to give up.
"So will all the animals we'll be talking about have custom spacesuits made for them or are they just going to flop around gasping for air?" he asked back. A series of giggles circled through the class as Mrs. Johnson rolled her eyes at the remark.
"Nice save," Clyde complimented bumping his fist against Lincoln's while the teacher returned to her desk.
"Well Mr. Loud, it's good to know you've got the more complex details thought out," she said as she took her seat, "It'll help you quite a bit when you have to do all the homework you missed from the last two days." Lincoln nearly felt his heart begin to boil from the stomach acid it must have dropped into. Wasting no time, the other children directed their humored reactions to him instead. Once he'd accepted the teases, Lincoln shifted his annoyance towards the teacher's desk in defeat. She'd won that round, but by the look on her face, Mrs. Johnson did hold some regret to having taunted one of her favorite students. "Now class, let's not be too hard on him," she said raising her hand to calm the children, "after all, Lincoln just had a day of recovery to get through."
"Yeah, he sure looks like he's been through a lot," Girl Jordan coughed getting a few chuckles. Lincoln's glower hardly had time to hold on the girl before another classmate had earned its ire.
"Probably had to play a few dozen rounds of Raging River Racers to heal up those bite marks," Rusty added.
"Maybe you should get some..." Lincoln murmured.
"Lincoln Loud!" Mrs. Johnson exclaimed. Lincoln slapped his forehead realizing how far his voice had reached. Like a chorus, the rest of the class "oooed" at him. Whatever regret towards the initiation of her teasing that she might have had had vanished from the teacher's face. Silence enveloped the classroom as Lincoln waited in his seat for whatever punishment was to follow for his remark. What came however was more surprising than any consequence he may have expected for his chiding. "...okay, so I'm just gonna say what we're all thinking. What was it like?" Mrs. Johsnon asked excitedly. Lincoln blinked a few times and shook his head.
"...what?"
"Oh, don't try to hide it. I was a complete lone wolf survivor girl there wasn't I?" the teacher swooned in her fantasy as she clutched her hands to the side of her upturned face. Continuing his blinks, his mind tried to process the questioning. Looking to either side he could see the faces that had ridiculed him equally as excited as their teacher had been in her guess.
"Oh did I use a gatling gun or did I just have a shotgun?" Stella asked.
"Please, a gun? I was probably bowling those zombies over with a the gym equipment," Girl Jordan assumed.
"Well I know I HAD to have been getting in on some of the action," Clyde announced, "If Lincoln got to go there there's no way their version of his best bud wouldn't help out!" Lincoln glanced towards the ceiling smirking at the rising atmosphere. He doubted he'd get the chance to give much disclosure to the fantasizing room, but it was nice to receive some happier attention.
Having completed her first round of lectures and assignments, Luan wandered the halls of Royal Woods High School. With her initial trials out of the way, she had quite a bit of time to herself during the study hall she had on her schedule. What was an entire hour of just relaxation to most students was instead of a bastion of advancement for whatever acts she'd normally be practicing for her upcoming birthday parties and stages that she performed at. Just froths of time to refine and modify her recitals, even if a number of the other students present couldn't stand the puns and wordplay she heralded. But she needed to take every opportunity afforded to her to craft her next performance. It may have seemed like an endless redundancy of annoyance to those that spent time around her, but she needed to have the jokes down just right if she were to hit every beat correctly. If she didn't what would become of Funny Business Inc.? It's not like she could allow continual blunders like the scathing act that Lincoln had almost caused at Maggie's party when he'd taken the reigns.
Having made her way to the cafeteria where the study hall had been scheduled, Luan looked for a good seat. And she found one. As she'd hoped, Benny had picked one right in the corner, away from most other students. On most days she would have loved to worm her way into the center of the room and test out her latest jokes on her peers, but on that one her mind swirled with thoughts of the brother she'd reminded herself of. Him and their black-haired sister. As casually as she could, Luan tapped Benny on the shoulder before sliding over and slumping into the seat next to him when he'd turned to look at where she had been.
"I know I'm not the prettiest, but you could at least look at me," Luan remarked causing the unaware boy to jump and spin in her direction.
"Oh Luan!" he laughed joining in her own as he jabbed his thumb back to the spot she'd poked him from, "sorry, your beauty was so enthralling that you were practically invisible."
"Oh you," she giggled, "No need to treat me like a ghost." Even though they'd hardly gotten into a competition, already a few students had gotten up to move further away from the joking pair and join those that had changed their seats when they'd seen the girl of the two enter. Had anyone cared to listen to them, they may have found it a bit odd to hear the boy of the table laughing longer than the maniac with a billion sisters. The only one that did matter though had noticed. Doing his best to dampen his voice in an unsuspecting manner, Benny finished his bout of chuckles with a brief cough to readjust his vocals and looked at Luan with some concern.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked putting a hand on her back, "normally your laughs go on for at least fives seconds before quieting. And that was your own joke. You usually love those." In a brief rarity of contemplation, Luan looked at the boy wordlessly while her pupils shifting across his face every so often. After a few seconds though she burst into laughter.
"Ha! What? Am I not allowed to "trip up" sometimes too?" she asked as she threw herself onto the ground from her chair before hopping back into it and holding out her phone as if to record something, "I don't gotta like every joke that makes it onto the "blooper reel"!" Benny couldn't help but give into a few chuckles at the visual humor. "I only aim for the finest of "Knee Slappers"!" Luan continued performing the action against her own appendage. While it was hard to not give some reaction to the display, even for a few of the other reluctant onlookers in the chamber, Benny's laughing died down quicker than expected. "Aw, don't "sour-up" now. I was just gonna bring out the lemons to-" Luan started in an attempt at another joke, but found her vocals silenced by the hand that grabbed her mouth. While it may have been a surprise that Benny had been the one to shut her up, most of the other student in the cafeteria were grateful for it.
"Okay, stop," he said taking his hand back, "You're forcing them out AND you're just rattling them off now. What's wrong?" Luan opened her mouth to make another pun, but the look on the boy's face stopped her. Her pupils did a little dance around his face again before her outstretched arms dropped to her side with a sigh. Her downed head glanced back up to his searching for an allowance of their usual rounds of humor, but his stonewall expression seemed intent on answers more than laughter. He was one of the few people that could tell when something was off about her, and if it were blatant enough he didn't take those matters lightly. Sighing again, Luan tilted her head towards another part of the floor.
"It's nothing..." she mumbled.
"Yeah, and Mrs. Appleblossom doesn't like Wood Polish," Benny declared lifting a brow at her. Luan grimaced under the pressure. She wasn't used to having people outside of her family understand her quirks well enough to make rebuttals to them, and none of her siblings could play off of her humor naturally enough to jab at that usually when she was acting off.
"Ugh it's...it's just..." Luan grumbled. The table shook a tiny bit as her elbow hit its surface and her head fell forward for her hand to hold it. Benny's hand sliding up and down her back helped to ease the tension building inside her. "...it's...personal stuff..." she murmured glancing at him out of the side of her eye. To her misfortune his face prodded her further. "You-...it's...Loud...stuff..." she grunted, "I...ugh, okay, if you'd done something to piss others off and absolutely deserved for them to murder you and then one of them sticks their neck out to help you, you probably owe them quite a bit right?" Thinking on the bizarre question for a minute, Beni nodded. Luan winced from the inescapable answer. "And this one that you're indebted to. They decide to make use of that privilege a few times. You don't mind it, but eventually you catch on to something going on between them and...another person whom you also help out of a jam when they're together. And THAT person asks for a favor also...they're like...ALWAYS around each other. Working together on...SOMETHING. I mean...you want to respect the one that helped you, but you also want to know what you're helping THEM with when you lend a hand. I mean...it's not wrong to try and figure THEIR scheming out right? It...it's been going on for a while now, a LOT longer than mine did. And the one that's joined in on getting favors from you isn't the one that helped you..."
"But you did still cause trouble for that one right?" Benny reminded. Now Luan's other hand came up to help cradle her face with the first one. Talking was supposed to help, but all it seemed to be doing was affirming her unworthiness in an investigation. And in her heart she knew she had no right to gain that insight. But her curiosity pleaded with her. It begged her for closure. Her breathing evened out as Benny's backrubs became more thorough once he'd noticed the stress on Luan. "Do you think their "scheming" is anything to worry about?" he asked.
"...I...don't know..." Luan confessed, "They were pretty creepy when I helped them get away from someone else that first time, and the one that didn't help me seemed pretty eager to reiterate the fact that I owed the one that did when they got me to do something...I mean they're clearly working together on...something...I just...it's like it's right there but I can't figure it out...I've helped them out multiple times now. Don't I deserve to know?" It was bizarre to see the comedian in such a fit. In a way it was flattering to Benny that the girl would confide so deeply in him, but in another it was regrettable for he couldn't truly give an answer. He knew that Luan likely didn't want to cause trouble for them after how bad some of her pranking must have gone, especially not for the person that had helped her, but she did make a case of sorts for herself that held some weight.
"I know it's not what you wanna hear, but...I don't think I can tell give you a straight answer on what you should do one way or the other," Beni sighed as he continued his strokes, "If you feel you should know then you feel you should. If it were to cause more trouble I'd say no, but...I guess all I can say is that you should do what you think you should." Benny turned his head away as he saw Luan's eyelids flicker. Her face still held the same expression of discontent as it had ever since she'd begun speaking her dilemma. "Wish there were some way more that I could help," he sighed. For the next half a minute the two sat in the silence of the girl's conflicted morals. As his hand slowed however, her jeering smirk began to return.
"Well...if you wanna help...you could always do that...thing...you did on Saturday..." Luan suggested quietly. Thinking back to that day, Benny blushed lightly and looked towards her face to see if he could get confirmation on if he understood what she might be talking about. Seeing her smirk blossom into a heavy-lidded grin, his face deepened in color.
"Luan! We're in school!..." he whispered in disbelief.
"And everyone else is doing their best to stay away from us and ignore us..." Luan said wiggling her eyebrows. Benny almost prayed for someone to have remained at one of the tables near theirs, but to the detriment of an excuse, once he'd turned his head he could see that every seat within three rows of theirs had completely emptied. With a nervous huff of air, he sunk his head back down and glanced at the girl who'd scooted up closer next to him. "Romeo..." Luan cooed as she wiggled her eyebrows more confidently. Benny felt the steam pouring from the ears of his warmed face.
Unlike her siblings, Lucy Loud spent most of her days in quiet motions. When the teachers talked she listened. When the assignments were given she put the pencil to the paper. When the subject was boring she doodled. Rarely did she ever have input save for when a scarce appearance of a friend might pop up, and even then it was a rather limited conversation given how both she and her acquaintances tended to act. But on that day, even the brief appearance by Morpheus and Borris had gotten little more than a glance towards her. That left mainly Haiku, her most frequent affiliate, to interact with her with whatever those interactions might have been. And as it turned out it was...minimal. Haiku had given her a few words for a greeting and confirmation over her stale happiness that she had returned, but aside from that the older girl had been unusually quiet, even for a Morticians Club member. As they wrote their paragraphs for their shared English Class, Lucy would sometimes glance over to the girl sitting next to her. She didn't know if she expected anything from Haiku, but if she had it was quite a letdown. The girl just stayed focused on her words.
Thinking that perhaps the concentration of the lesson was too great, Lucy joined in on the efforts of the writing, but when she'd finished it in record time she'd realized the simplicity of it given their writing-level. No, Haiku wasn't having trouble with their grammar exercises. She couldn't have been. Her ignorance of the black-dressed girl's peering was purposeful. She either was making an attempt to avoid looking at Lucy or had no interest in acknowledging her. Whatever the reason it prodded with an annoying irritant. It was one thing to not receive a verbal communication, but it was another thing entirely for one of her closest confidants to simply ignore her. As she pretended to write in another word on her filled paper, Lucy shifted her seating a bit. Surely Haiku would have finished minutes ago had she actually been trying, but for whatever reason she was stalling on her motions. Looking at the movements of her hand Lucy could see that. It was as though she truly was doing what she could to avoid a confrontation.
As Lucy watched her friend's pencil slowly etch away at the stationary in front of her she felt her blood slowing more than its already nonexistent nature allowed. Had she done something wrong? Truly Haiku had seemed as pleased as her body would let her be when she'd initially seen the girl return, but after that it'd just been wordless avoidance from her. The other goths had already shown their disinterest in speaking to her throughout the school-day, but for what reason she couldn't figure out. She would have assumed at least one of them would have spoken to her, but each time she'd looked towards one they'd turned away. She didn't know why she'd suddenly become an outcast...of the outcasts. And she wanted a reason for it.
"Haiku," Lucy finally uttered. Knowing that the girl had heard her, Lucy waited until Haiku's elongated pattern of writing had decided to conclude. Closing her visible eye, Lucy heard her take a near unhearable breath before she opened they eye back up with its pupil looking to her.
"Yes?" she said. Lucy felt a slight shiver run across her. Their voices normally held no emotion, but Haiku's...it was...disconnected. It may have sounded normal to those that weren't accustomed to the goths of the school, but to Lucy it carried more...impartiality than usual.
"...sigh. What is wrong?" Lucy asked.
"...what do you mean?" Haiku asked. Lucy did her best to stare into her through her overhanging bangs, but Haiku remained unfazed by the gesture.
"You know what I mean," Lucy murmured. Haiku just stared at Lucy under her vain expression of unawareness while the other students, unhearing of the quiet pair, scribbled their words around them. "The goths," Lucy elaborated getting no satisfactory response from Haiku, "why are you all...not talking to me?" Again, Haiku closed her eye, though this time Lucy felt as though she could garner more emotion from it. It was brief in the transition between positions in her view, but for a flicker she could detect some form of anxiousness from the bend of the older girl's clenched eyelids.
"Oh well...I don't know the exact reason for the others, but it's probably jealousy from them if I had to harbor a guess," Haiku told her. Lucy straightened her back at the response.
"...jealousy?" she asked in disbelief. Haiku nodded. "...jealous of what?"
"What do you think?" Haiku responded, "You got to go to a world of the undead. It's not everyday that one of us gets so lucky."
"...why wouldn't they talk to me because of that?" Lucy questioned.
"They probably don't want to pester you about it. You were offered a nightmare come true. You got to experience it. They likely don't want to crowd you given the type of people we are," Haiku suggested with her eyes back on her paper. With the hypothesis offered to her, Lucy sat back into the full width of her chair. Her face hung with her perpetual line of a mouth, but her head soared with pride. She hadn't even thought about what the others might think of her otherworldly adventure, and with the siblings that they had in that school, word had likely gotten around about their time away.
"So I'm like...a...hero to them?..." Lucy asked slowly.
"I guess so," Haiku said curtly. Lucy mind continued to drift around by the wings of mental bats in the supposed realization. Once they'd lowered it back into her cranium however the short and direct reply of her friend ran across her.
"...what about...you?" Lucy asked. Blinking with more response than she'd seen from her that entire session, Lucy watched as Haiku's pupil drifted back over to her with an almost offended look of surprise.
"Me?" Haiku asked. Unsure of if she should or not, Lucy nodded. "What do you mean what about me?" Haiku asked.
"Well...you haven't been talking to me either and...the explanation you gave was for the others..." Lucy pointed out. Blushing, Haiku jerked her eyesight to the side and folded her arms over her chest.
"Lucy..." she muttered, "Not all of us get as lucky as you. We aren't just handed respect on a silver platter. You've been absent from both the Morticians Club AND the Writing Club for TWO WEEKS now." Though Lucy's mouth opened, her teeth gripped each other in light of the reminder. The look Haiku had given should have been warning enough that her own reasoning had been different from her proposed one for the other goths. "It has NOT been easy," Haiku told her, "Having to do everything as a solo leader. Getting advertisements done for the upcoming Ball, helping with its construction, managing the Morticians Club overall."
"Haiku I-"
"But even with all of that...I'm mainly just...worried about you," Haiku said. Lucy shook her head at the sudden change in atmosphere.
"...worried about me?..." Lucy repeated, "Why would you be worried?"
"Sigh...Lucy..." she murmured, "...you keep skipping. Yes, some of it's been for obvious obstacles, but it's been two weeks now. The thing that's been hardest about all of this is...worrying that maybe...you're not gonna...stay a...goth..." Within her throat, the younger girl felt the vibrations of what she could only assume was laughter taking hold, but as expected it didn't make it out to the world outside of her body.
"Me?...not goth?..." she said keeping a smile from her lips, "Why would you ever-"
"You don't show up," Haiku reiterated, "we hardly see you anymore other than the times that I have class with you. I'm not saying you're going to stop being goth but it's...it's worrying...I'd rather not lose the most promising Mortician I know..." Blushing at the statement, Lucy shifted in her seat again. It wasn't everyday that she was told how talented she was in the field, at least not from those outside of her family. She knew that she meant more to Haiku than others, but it was surprising to hear concern from the dry girl.
"Sigh...I have been...going through a...um...lot lately..." Lucy tried to explain, "But I promise, I will make up for the absences. I can take over for a while for the Morticians Club and give you a-"
"That's been...irritating," Haiku admitted, "But it's not the main thing I'm concerned about. Missing so many gatherings...usually isn't a good sign for staying part of a group..." Lucy squinted as she looked back down at her masterful short poem on the dreariness of the fast food service. She couldn't just tell Haiku the main reasons that she had been absent. It'd be an affront to her efforts of leading the others in helping to get ready for the Ball, not to mention a bit...questionable in her own methods. But Lucy knew it was silly to fear for her status.
"Haiku, I will not stop being a goth. You have my word," Lucy promised, "It's an impossibility for me to do so. And do not worry, I myself have been finding time to get ready for the dance. You WILL see me there. It's just these past weeks have been...difficult..." Haiku's eye slid to Lucy to accompany the movement of the younger girl's unseen ones. "But I'm still me," she assured her. Dropping her eyelid halfway, Haiku let her mouth crack into a weak smile.
"As long as you're sure," she said.
"As sure as I am destined for the darkness of the eternal walk of the mortal world," Lucy nodded. Both girls grinned at the renewed morbidity between them as Haiku picked her pencil back up to finish her paper.
As the sun beat down on Royal Woods High School, students swarmed the halls darting about for their next classes. Of the Louds there, Leni repeatedly attempted to walk through a wall to get into her classroom while Luna provided some frantic background music for the masses as they sped around. For some however they took their time. The bell had only just rung to signal the departure for the next class and that gave many the chance to lounge about if their next destination was close enough for their liking. One of those people that saw fit to dawdle had apparently been the oldest of the Loud family who stayed slouched against her locker door buried deep in texting. Most of her peers likely assumed that it was yet another of her endless conversations with her beloved boyfriend that she simply just wouldn't let go of no matter how far apart they were. But in truth, there was no one on the other end of her typing. At least, no one but herself. Throughout the last couple of classes of the day she'd been invested in her handheld device which had gotten her some disapproval when she'd thought the teachers hadn't been watching her. But with the freedom between classes she could jot down anything she could think of. And she had a LOT to think of.
The teenager was so engrossed in her phone that she didn't even notice the smirk of her comedic sister or the nervousness of her hot-faced boyfriend that she clung to as they passed. Her typings were too important. The "family issue" was too important. She couldn't remember the last time she'd become so entranced by a mystery, but after the complete bizarreness that Lucy and Lincoln had displayed the night before the analysis of it was unavoidable. She was the one that it fell to to make sure everyone was in line, the one that was responsible for their maintained well-being, and she intended to fulfill that role to the best of her abilities. Whatever was going on between the two she needed to get to the bottom of it, and that meant going back over what she could piece together from what she could remember of those two operating more closely. Her brows furrowed as she wrote down another instance that she could remember of them whispering to each other in the back of the van. That'd made about five times that she could recollect. After listening in on the scheming of the twins and Lynn the night before she'd made sure to make note of their part in the ordeals as well but could only think of Lynn being annoyed when they'd been chasing Scoots when she'd become a supervillain. She could only assume her participation had been ignited by Lucy defeating her in that game of basketball over the weekend which had clearly had to do with Lincoln. The whole Assistant-Bot thing that Lincoln had taken the blame for didn't feel like it would have been a part of it, but it had been suspiciously close to the recent events involving him and she obviously didn't need to remind herself of that garbage with how it had stuck in everyone's heads.
As she typed her mind worked. It flipped and flopped as it tried to come up with conclusions to whatever unknown controversy had taken hold of the household behind the scenes. Whatever the result however, part of Lori feared what the answers might be. She sighed as she jotted down Leni's mention of "consoling" Lucy over a "boy" and felt herself wince as she thought back over the advice she'd given Lincoln a few days back. He liked someone. That had been obvious. No matter how much he might deny it the writing had been all over his face when he'd been making those eggs. But with the reveal of Lucy's own apparent crush on another unknown person...Lori wriggled her lips about to swallow back a rising substance in her throat. Giving another, more ragged sigh, Lori typed down the advice she'd given to Lincoln and did her best to ignore the prodding inference.
"Lori? You coming?" a voice asked. Jumping from the sudden call, the blond looked to her side to see a red-haired girl.
"Oh-y-yeah Becky just...just gimme a minute. You go on ahead, I'll see ya there," Lori mumbled.
"Who you texting?" she asked craning her head over to get a look at the screen of Lori's phone, a motion the the blond clearly did not approve of with how quickly she pulled it away.
"N-n-no one!" Lori almost yelped causing the other teenager to give her a suspicious look. Even with the grin that she put on her face, Lori's investigated stance was not undone. "...ugh, it's...it's nothing. Just...trying to figure some things out about the family."
"Ooo! What's the drama?" Becky asked trying to grab at the device. Intent on keeping matters as private as she could, Lori blocked the excited girl's face with her hand.
"Nothing," Lori stated clearly, her unspoken wishes on the matter obvious, "It's just family stuff. The twins, Lynn...Lucy...Lincoln..." Becky backed away from the hand and tilted her head as a smile spread across her face.
"Oh yeah, him," she laughed, "His tricks at your party were awesome." Realizing what her friend was referring to, Lori blushed in embarrassment. "You know you really owe them. Your family's great," Becky told her, "Don't hang around out here too long though." Knowing she didn't have time herself to investigate further, Becky let Lori's secrets remain her own as she bounded off for their next class. Sighing to herself, Lori slumped back against her locker and continued her typing.
"...yeah...they usually are..." she murmured to herself, "...usually..."
The hallways of Royal Woods Elementary wafted with the silence of peace. Save for the far off shutting of a few lockers here and there, the only noise that could be heard were the clacks of a lone wanderer's shoes against the hard floor. As the older man passed by the latest set of doors, his eyes scanned each side of the hallway they were on. Within them respected and confided staff members operated with the children listening intently to what their guides had to say, those that he could see that was. Principle Huggins breathed a content sigh of relief. After the insanity of the week's beginning it was nice to see the establishment having settled back into normalcy. He could still remember the chase through town as he accompanied the Loud family in their efforts to stop that granny-turned-supervillain. Quite a bit of their time within the school itself had been a blur, but he'd never forget the speeding through the streets or the crash of the ruined helicopter near them. Checking to make sure no one was around to witness it, Principal Huggins spun in place and brought his shuddering fists to his chest. He had never felt such exhilaration. It was like he had been in an actual Ace Savvy comic book! And not the newer kid-friendly ones. No, that had been strictly Silver Age dramatics with Golden Age freedom! A smile and wink to go along with the gunshots.
Once his energy had quelled, Huggins came to a stop and jerked his head around to either side to check for possible onlookers again. Finding none he wiped his forehead and readjusted his tie. He didn't know what he might have done if he, of all occupants, had been caught dabbling in the childlike enthusiasm that he'd displayed. He couldn't let himself dawdle on the bubbling remembrance for too long. It was a place of business, a system to educate the future of the town and prepare them for their lives to come, and he, above all else, was the force to see to that regiment with a stern grasp. He couldn't let that reputation loosen for a brief memory of the childhood dream he'd gotten to live out. Popping his eyes to a wider width and looking around again, Huggins did one last twirl. Just as curtly as before he snapped his feet back together at the twirl's conclusion and slipped his arms behind his back in seriousness. One last bout of elation wouldn't destroy his career.
Getting back to his inspection of the state of the establishment, the man slid his view from one end of the hall to the other with the next set of classrooms that lined it. As expected, the teacher of one of the chambers was spouting out some instructions while in the other a young girl was answering a question. Craning his head further towards that door he realized that the child was one that he had fought alongside on Monday. Lola Loud. It was good to see the tike back in a more natural setup, and with the taste of freedom around the corner she seemed to wear quite the smile as she talked. Next to her however, her twin looked to be more worse for the wear. It was a bit of a startle to see such a young kid bearing such concern on her face. While the rest of the class looked expectantly towards the front of the room, Lana fidgeted her hands that she held together and stared at on her desk. Every so often the corner of her mouth would deepen alongside the tensing of her eyebrows. Such an expression might be suitable for the middle of the week, but so late into it? And for her double to not share in the features it was...odd. Either Lola was better at hiding whatever concern the other might have or it was one of their stark contrasts to each other.
Huggins couldn't hang on the scene forever though. Aside from the fact that it might seem weird for the principle to be watching the students, he still had other tasks to attend to. After all, who else was going to make sure that Pacowski had rounded up all the gym equipment before the elongated weekly break began? With his shoulders as sturdy as he'd adjusted them to after his dances, Huggins proceeded towards his continued duties. Eyeing the walls top-to-bottom, he shut the lockers that he found open and picked up a soda bottle that his foot connected with. He'd have to remind himself to make an announcement next week about the importance of the school's trash cans. Upon finding the nearest one he tossed the bottle in. As it clunked into the other debris at the bottom of the container Principle Huggins' eyes caught sight of his coat which had become a bit ruffled, likely from the movements he'd made earlier. Annoyance on his complexion, he did his best to straighten the fabric back out with his hands. Sweeping back the top of his head afterwards, his studious gaze noticed something else. A crack in the wall next to the trash can. He breathed an unamused sigh towards it.
Though the school had mostly been redone after the chaos on Monday, some scars still remained even after having had help from that wonderful invention of Lisa Loud's in the school's rebuilding. Due to its aide the construction had been completed within a single night, likely being what had caused the robot's subsequent collapse and breaking during the efforts, but even with it he had noticed some wounds that remained within the establishment. To the care-free students it likely seemed like the same old building, but to someone as studious as himself the more he wandered the building the more he noticed the next-to-nonexistent differences. Which wasn't to say he wasn't grateful. To have the building in working order at all following what had happened was a miracle, but it did clash with his decades of memories whenever he'd come across a mark or restructured fracture. To him it stuck out like an orange marble against an ocean of blue ones with how well he knew the building. But in time those warped details would fade into the normalcy of the complex's structure. Until that time he just had to take solace in the fact that they still had a school to run.
Starting his patrol around the halls again, Huggins continued his actions of tending to the disorder he could find. While he did enjoy the ducking out of some of the menial responsibilities that came with his line of work, he did take pride in his role. After all, he'd seen to the start of the education of those that had already graduated even High School with how long he'd been in the game. There was a degree of satisfaction to be had when he'd see ones from years long past waiting on him at a restaurant or seeing some at Parent Teacher conferences with offspring of their own. Coming to a stop at the classroom that the super-hero-fueled calamity had originated from, he smiled as he looked into it. It had certainly been quite an ordeal to take back the school from that insanity, but the students that had helped showed only an even brighter future for the town. His beaming hung firm as he scanned his eyes over what he could see of the room. Having forgotten the unease that he thought he'd feel from being spotted in his observations, the corners of his mouth turned downwards as he noticed every single face in the room turn to him.
Realizing the sound that had echoed through the halls however, his heart sank for an entirely different reason. In his routine monitoring of the halls he'd completely lost track of time. Before he had time to react, Principle Huggins was practically thrown to the side as the door to the room erupted open allowing the students within to join the other grades that began to swarm through the ringing hallways. Desperately the man clung to a set of lockers that he was swept by, but he could feel his grip slipping. Bit by bit his body was sinking under the clamor of the smaller bodies that drug at his as they passed. His pupils shrank as his hand came undone from one of the handles. Wondering if the week's end might mark his own as the swarm of youth began to make their way towards the exit of the building, Principle Huggins flailed around helplessly until his panicked arms found an object and wrapped themselves around it. He was too relieved to have found a grip to be startled that it was moving. Once he'd caught his breath he looked at the boy he'd managed to ensnare and found it a bit ironic to have been the township's savior. That was two that he owed the young hero.
"Clyde! Thank goodness I found you," the younger male heard from what he had thought had been a snake of Lana's that'd gotten loose and caught him, "My boy, I know this is a bit of a detour, but I'm gonna need you to make a pit stop at the Principal's-"
"See ya later Clyde!" Girl Jordan laughed as she shoved him to the side in her run.
"HEY!" he and the principal exclaimed. The man clung to the boy for dear life as they were tossed about through the sea of bodies. Huggins knew that the race for the outside world could be great on some weeks. Even as far back as his own childhood he remembered the bumps and bruises to be gathered from the eternal weekly mass exodus, but he needed to get to the sanctity of his office before his hope was taken from him. And he knew how reliable the boy that he'd enlisted was. "Listen Clyde, we just have to take a left up here and-"
"Move it man!" Rusty said as he bumped past the boy. Again Huggins felt the friction of the bodies that they ricocheted off of. Unwelcome memories of his own defeats returning, Huggin's leg shot out to Clyde's side and caught hold of the orange-haired child that had knocked them further off course. Rusty barely had time to notice the limb that had spoked between his legs before he fell face-first onto the ground and somersaulted across it a few times. "NOOOO!" his cries faded as his figure became lost in the stampede. Clyde looked to the Principal's face in shock, but afterwards shared in the grin he gave him. He may have even actually decided to help return the figurehead to his quarters had a younger pair of girls not made their own advance. Principal Huggin's eyes went wide as the former happy and disgruntled blond twins from one of the classrooms he'd passed by earlier rushed forward. As if recited in their actions, Lana grabbed her sister's hand and sent Lola spinning in a ballerina twirl. The circle she made in her spinning knocked a few of the children around them out of the way, but the collision that hit their main target snapped the older man's grip off of Clyde and launched him into some nearby lockers. Knowing that he could nurse off the bruises later, Clyde refused to give up the race for his seating on the bus and only stumbled back a couple of feet before falling back into pace with the wave of kids around him.
"McBride! Don't leave me!" Principal Huggins cried in vain as he was swept away. It didn't take the boy long to readjust himself once the brief regret for the older man had washed off, but when he had he knew that he'd never catch up to where he'd been. His chances of meeting up with Lincoln's own efforts had been dashed by the affront of his younger siblings. Noticing the large shadow that flew past him, he looked up and glared at Lisa as she piloted herself and Darcy towards the door above the ocean of kids on a flying saucer. Of course the genius of the school had to cheat. Her brother however seemed to be holding his spot and keeping the distance between himself and the twins. The only real threat he looked to be having was from the girl that had knocked himself and Principal Huggins off-course originally. Eager to pay the boy back for how he'd won out against her the week before, Girl Jordan used her body to smash Lincoln's into each locker that he ran past. The boy tried desperately to edge back, but with how his body leaned into the wall he rarely got the chance to gather up the momentum to bounce her back. And a split into another hallway was just up ahead. If he didn't break out of the hold before too much longer he'd be flung straight into the forking passage.
As the opening came within six feet of them, their bodies felt another push, this time from the side Lincoln wasn't on. Though it did push him against the lockers even more, the force felt as though it'd been aimed at Girl Jordan causing him to look towards the side that the offense had hit her from. Both he and Girl Jordan looked in surprise at the newcomer as Lucy hit her shoulder against the older girl's arm again. Catching the younger sister's grin, Lincoln joined in the effort with his own shove from the distraction Lucy gave. Girl Jordan tried to shove back at him, but that only allowed Lucy to cave into her even further which bounced Lincoln's body back from the lockers like a spring when Girl Jordan's reflected off of him. After another pair of shoves from the siblings, Girl Jordan propelled off of him enough that he was able to squeeze barely squeeze by enough to shoot forward. Joining him in his run as Girl Jordan faltered back a few steps, Lucy smirked up at him and looked back at the older girl they'd moved past. She was not giving up though. Burning with rage at her stolen victory, Girl Jordan charged forward with as much strength as she could pump into her legs. Nodding to each other, Lincoln put his hands down in front of him. Taking the cue from their fight against Mr. Grouse the day before, Lucy put her foot into the hold and allowed Lincoln to toss her over his head back into the oncoming female. Baffled by the smoothness of their actions, but honing her reflexes, Girl Jordan ducked to the side causing Lucy to sail right past her. To her misfortune, Lucy's own motions were too driven by the adrenaline of the chase, and just as immediately she sought a counter to her escaping target. Spotting a flapping locker door ahead, she grabbed its handle and launched herself off of it as she bounced from the locker next to it that she slammed it into. Girl Jordan let out a small cry as the goth hit the ground behind her and slid past her leg knocking her into a twirl. Carrying herself up into her own spin as she bounced back to her feet, she grabbed Lincoln by the hands and threw him back.
"You'll get me back for this at gym!" he told the classmate who he hoped he'd be hitting. Before Girl Jordan had time to recover she felt the boy's feet slam into her chest knocking her back into the hall that she'd attempted to push him into.
"FUCK YOU!" she cried as he bounced away from the impact against her body and dropped back into his position next to Lucy. Grinning to her, the two continued their charge to the front doors of the school. Lost in their own pitiable "duel", they took no notice of their two blond sisters that lagged a few rows of children behind them. While Lucy and Lincoln did shove against each other, their pushes held nowhere near the force that the ones towards their combined enemy had had. And as they neared the exit with the rest of the school their "assault" became less pushy. By the time the bleeding sunlight had filtered across their interlocked silhouette their shoves had dampened more into mere presses against each other in the enrapturing friction that they'd let their waning efforts die into. But it was still a competition, and one that any child was entitled to win. Her brief contention showing, Lucy pressed back a bit harder inciting Lincoln to do the same which only led to further shoves from her.
Their conflict was practically gone from their senses by the time they hit the floor in the wrestle that their battle had become. Rolling around in their mix of limbs, the two did what they could to overpower the other, their lips lined with delighted grunts from the forgotten race that swept beside their disqualified positions. They just rolled and pushed at each other for the sake of it. Their bodies fought for an edge over the other while the rest of the children clamored by, few sparing their glances towards the downed competitors. Of those that did, Clyde urged himself to help his fallen friend, but he knew that Lincoln would have probably gone on without him. In the fray of the weekly evacuation all the kids knew the unwritten rules of survival. If they gave too much aide to anyone else, especially with how high of a chance they had for those they helped betraying them, they'd lose what standing they had. One that did stall however was Lana. She didn't know why, but something in her crawled up and across her skin at the sight of the glee that her older brother and sister displayed. They weren't trying to win the race...they were playing. Leaving aside the fact of the abnormal ignorance towards the exiting of the school, the way they...grinned and teased at each other with their halfhearted pushes...it neared the oddness of what she'd felt from their performance when Luan had been with them the previous Friday night.
Before she could dawdle on the scene much longer however, a tug pulled Lana from her trance. Having noticed her twin's pause, Lola pulled her back into the run of the children around them.
"Hey snap out of it," the princessier sister grunted as they started their retreat up again, "With those two distracted I got an idea for how to give us more prep time for when we get home!" Lana took another glance over her shoulder and watched as the older Louds continue to roll around on the floor with each other until their figures became blocked by the advancing bodies shoving around them. The longer that the two older Louds tried to outdo each other's presses the more and more the flocks of children waned. And as they decreased so too did Lincoln and Lucy's movements until they merely lay atop one another panting with only sparse pushes from one's hand to the other's. To the onlooker it was a clear indication that their efforts had tired and the futility of the dominance over their classmates had set in, and while that was a component the boy and girl moreso had simply eased into a comfortable stalemate. Lost in their view of each other, Lincoln smiled down at the girl he'd pinned while she gave the same expression back to him. Her arms hardly buckled under the lack of pressure that his used against them to prop himself up over her.
In those moments the world seemed to fade away. For whatever reason they lacked movement and just stared into each other. Sharing each other's air, staring into each other's intent. Smiling. Happy. Lucy felt her butt and back drag a tiny bit along the floor as Lincoln's inevitable exhaustion relaxed his body against her's. Her cheeks filled with a warm blush and her eyes slid upwards as his worn figure pressed into her's. She could feel the flow of his blood beat beneath his chest with how much her arms had let his press them downwards. Settling on a more comfortable prop, Lincoln undid his grasp from Lucy's and slid his hands to either side of her body keeping his face suspended inches from her's. In the lowering afternoon sun she truly did look beautiful with how her hair splayed out around her. He was almost envious of the boy they would be trying to get for her that night. If she weren't his sister those details could very well spark his own interest. Even the way that her breath tickled his cheeks drew an appeal. That boy she was after had no idea what he was eluding.
Letting out a small sigh, Lincoln brought himself back and sat on his legs. Her entrapment undone, Lucy pulled her own legs up from either side of him and turned her head towards the side smiling. Lucy knew it did nothing to hide the blush that rimmed her cheeks, but be it for their roles or for other unknown reasons, they'd begun to welcome the feelings that the hue brought. It was comforting to bask in the emotions with each other. Trying to shake off his own blush, Lincoln looked around. The few stragglers that remained behind were filtering out as quickly as their scruffed figures could allow. One such brown-haired girl held her middle finger out to them as she passed. The few that had fallen into their own skirmishes along the sides of the hall in manners akin to them had mostly recovered from their own dejected duels to start their hobbling to the exit as well.
"You're pretty cute ya know," Lincoln told her. Lucy stared at him just as dumbfoundedly as he did to her.
"...what-" she asked.
"WHAT?" Lincoln repeated almost immediately with a cracking voice. The two looked like tomatoes as they each attempted to say something but they stopped each time the other would open their mouth.
"Um-well...I-um..."
"I'm-j-just saying, th-that boy...he's going to love you," Lincoln coughed. Getting up, he ruffled her hair and blew a hot jet of steam from his nose. If he'd remained in her eyesight any longer he'd been afraid that his head would have exploded. He didn't know what had possessed him to blurt out such awkwardness, but all he could do afterwards was work with it the best he could. As Lucy pulled her hair back into place in annoyance the coloring of their faces was able to dull more back into normalcy. The messing of her looks may have been a nuisance, but it helped to readjust their nerves in that recovering simmer that her brother's words had filtered through her head. Looking up she could see him smiling back down at her. "You'll get your guy," he told her, "I know you will." She didn't mind the second ruffling he gave her hair as she hugged his leg. The warming of his face almost cooled completely in the gentleness that her hair gave his fingers as they sifted through it.
"Sigh, the emptiness of defeat ensnares even the heroes of that death-wrapped realm," a voice stated. Instantly Lucy undid her arms from her brother's leg and turned to look at the group of kids that had made their way into the lobby with what little remained of the school's attendees. Blushing lightly himself, Lincoln took back his own hand and used it to scratch the back of his head. "Gasp, sorry. We um-...uh..."
"What Persephone means to say is..." Borris coughed.
"Come on guys, it's not like they're going to bite us," Dante murmured. After pausing for a second his eye drifted back over to the two Louds in a modicum of hopeful questioning, "...will you?" Lincoln and Lucy gave each other a glance, but seeing as who the crowd was, Lucy tilted her head towards the door a couple of times. Figuring it was best to let her handle her club and knowing that they did have their ride to catch, Lincoln nodded and headed for the outside to see how much time was left for the bus. Left to her friends, Lucy got up and brushed off her dress as the group approached.
"So what was it like?" Morpheus asked.
"Was the air as dreadful as the movies make it out to be?" asked Persephone.
"What was most death-inducing situation you found yourself in?" Dante inquired. Looking around at the friends, Lucy filed the questions through her mind to choose which one might be best suited to answer first.
"...so there we were, neck deep in the zombies that occupied the crypt," Lucy said throwing her hands out dramatically.
"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" Lincoln's voice hollered from outside jerking all of the goths' heads towards the door. Looking back and forth between the group and the outside world, Lucy let her shoulders slump back into their normal posture.
"Sigh, I would love to catch up with everyone's bleakness, but it sounds like I should probably get going," she told the group.
"Tis fine oh child of the night," Persephone nodded.
"We can talk later," Borris added. Lucy nodded back.
"If any of you are at the Ball of the Undead, I will see you there," she said before making her departure.
"Oh joyousness, she is going," Persephone said looking to the other smiling goths. As their figures became obscured by the windows of the front doors of the school, Lucy approached her fuming brother outside. Rattling off what she could only assume was some obscenity, he threw his arms in the air and bounced up and down at the edge of the sidewalk that led into the parking-lot.
"...where's the bus?..." Lucy asked once she'd gotten within range of the...more adult choice of words Lincoln had been using. Dropping forward slightly, Lincoln's eyelids halved in the direction of the exit to the school's parking-lot.
"Probably a mile away by now," he grumbled. Lucy looked to the exit herself and then to the rest of the yellowish orange transports lining the sidewalk. Sure enough, their bus was missing.
"It should still be here. We weren't in there that long," Lucy deduced.
"Yeah...I know..." Lincoln murmured. Looking to the taller boy, Lucy saw his unamused glower towards the school gates blink slowly. His annoyance was far from misplaced with the urgency of the night's tasks ahead of them, but even with that there was still pleasantness to be felt. His brows jumped upon feeling her hand slip into his. After looking down at the connecting appendage, he sighed and gave her a half-hearted smirk. It wasn't the end of the world, but they would have to do a bit of jogging if they wanted any time to relax before the big event. Even without the bus though, they at least had each other for company, and that was something that neither of them could find fault with.
A determined grin plastered Lola's face as she kicked open the front door of the Loud House. Displaying a rare moment of uncaring towards the finesse of her actions, she tossed her book bag right onto the floor next to the door and started for the stairs. Her plan might have worked, but that didn't mean they could dawdle. Already the two older Elementary Schoolers were probably speeding through the sidewalks of Royal Woods to try and catch up to the bus that had long since left them in the dust. What little time she could buy though was sure to be appreciated by her allies. Lynn, who'd been waiting on the couch, jumped at the sudden appearance of the two. She hadn't expected them home that early. Normally their bus took at least a few minutes longer, but thanks to the princessy girl's intervention they'd been given more preparation time than they'd hoped for.
Bounding up the steps next to the blond that strolled in after the pink-clad one, Lynn smacked her fists together excitedly. She may have had reservations towards certain implications of their agenda but it needed to be done and to make sure she was in proper fighting shape she had to pump herself up. The time was almost at hand. At last they would take down those monsters that so dangerously threatened their society. And the girl that beat her at basketball. She felt some confusion however. Normally Lucy and Lincoln would file in right after the others, if not beat them home entirely, but there'd been no sign of the black or white-haired residents of the house. Lola and Lana must have ran as fast as possible ahead of them to make it to the house first, but Lynn should have at least heard the entrance of her roommate and her younger brother by the time the group had made it to the top of the steps no matter how much of a head start the twins had had. And the girl she walked beside didn't show many signs of wear on her.
"Not that I'm complaining, but where's Stinkin' and Luce?" Lynn asked suspiciously.
"I'll tell you later," Lola replied from the front, "Just know that you're welcome." Pursing her lips, Lana tilted her eyes away from where they were walking. It may have been necessary, but she hadn't expected so much resistance from Clyde when she'd subdued him. Even if he wasn't the most energetic kid ever he definitely put up some squirming to try to break free and speak out against Lola's assurance to the driver of the bus that Lucy and Lincoln hadn't shown up to school that day once everyone else had gotten onboard. Shrugging off the curiosity, Lynn accompanied the twins into their chambers. With neither of their targets home yet, they had little reason to sneak around. It took only seconds for the group to retrieve the various items they'd left in the room earlier. Lana checked over the scope of her modified gun checking for smudges in its viewing part. After a few pulls of the trigger with the safety on, she flicked it off and fired a shot through the open door. The resulting "splat" laced the area of impact with the spicy liquid contained inside its ammunition supply. With each swish of her bat, Lynn cut at the air with the blade that had been strapped to it. She could feel the blood pulsing in her ears from the excitement of the fast-approaching confrontation, but at the same time could also feel her wariness towards the plan as well. What if they actually did succeed? Would this be the end of their brother and sister? What would the family think? Another shot from the gun of the plumber of the family vibrated the intensity of the threat through her. Whatever the outcome was, those two needed to be stopped. Slashing harder than ever, the "swish!"ing sound of the blade morphed into more of a "shwang!". No matter what happened, they would beat them. SHE would beat them.
"If you two are gonna waste your time on the air, maybe I should give one of my flash grenades a test too," Lola suggested. Lynn and Lana's eyes darted to the spherical object that bounced up and down in the girl's hand and gulped. They zipped to stand at attention in front of her as she raised the weapon threateningly into the air. To their relief, she lowered it back to the holster that she'd strung around her body once she saw that they'd fallen in line. She may have agreed to work with them, but she wasn't one to dilly dally around the issue. If they were operating together against their foes, she'd ensure the preciseness of their schedule. Everything had to be perfect after the amount of time she'd bought them. Carefully she looked her allies over. Aside from the sweat decorating their foreheads, their stances seemed ready and their equipment was collected. Even Hopps poked happily out from his owner's overalls. Scrutinizing her own items, she took out a few of her grenades and tilted them around in her hand. Lynn and Lana winced each time she made too quick of a movement with one, but eventually they'd settled back into their holders.
"Alright people," she muttered swiping her hair back, "I know that I haven't been the most tolerable leader-"
"Leader?" Lana mumbled.
"You joined yesterday-"
"But I believe in you!" Lola continued apparently not noticing Lynn or Lana's input, "And I swear, on Mr. Sprinkle's adorable nose that we shall prevail!" Lynn and Lana eyed each other over the impromptu motivational speech that had begun pouring from the other blond's mouth. "...oh get over it Unice, I didn't see you lifting your pinky at the last tea party!" she shouted at the apparently offended Unicron stuffed animal at her tea table, "Ahem. Anyhow, the moment of truth is at hand. This household may be in the gravest of danger, and some of you MAY die. But these your sacrifices will not be in vain. For we shall ensure the safety of our family, NAY, all of Royal Woods!" If crickets had been listening their applause would have been great in the unkempt silence to follow. Popping open one of her eyes, Lola beamed her blissful pride at the two more judgmental Louds that stood before her. "Now then Lana, if you would be so kind, please get Lynn's weapon laced with the Holy Water," she ordered as she spun around and looked towards a door across the hall, "I'm gonna see if I can get anymore assistance before our two...guests of honor show up..." Shaking off the egotistical confidence of her twin, Lana grabbed Lynn's bat. Catching sight of Lola as she neared Lisa's door, Lori pulled her head back into her room.
It was beginning.
Lincoln panted with each step he took. His lungs burned from the air he forced in to keep his body going. He knew he should probably stop for a break, but with their ride home gone they needed to make up all the time that they could. The sun dipped lower into the horizon as the noodles that his legs should have become fought with an unquenchable energy that refused his slacking. Behind him, Lucy had just barely been able to keep up. Neither of them had ever been the most athletic Loud there was, but the urgency of their rush left them with no mercy. What should have been a simple trip home and hopefully a bit of lounging afterwards had instead been turned into a hellish dash through the streets of Royal Woods. While the normal students that'd been let out were able to enjoy some time at the playground or a Flippee, the two Loud siblings had had to race by such excursions, each view of a denied luxuriation stabbing ever harder at their hearts. It wasn't until they had gotten to the block of the neighborhood that their house resided on that Lincoln had noticed the straps of some plastic rings that were used to hold cans together clinging to his foot, a souvenir he'd likely picked up from when they'd taken a detour behind Flip's establishment.
Once he'd successfully pried it off with a couple of jumps, his waned body forced him into a more relaxed stroll. With the house finally within sight, rest could begin to set in. The breaths Lincoln took no longer felt as though they were going to shatter his ribs during the inhales even if they still stung. Knowing that his sister was somewhere behind him, Lincoln buckled his walk even further allowing her slowed pace to catch up. She didn't give much indication towards how breathless she herself had become, but it was obvious to tell by the way her lips shook as she attempted to preserve her silent nature through the exhales she gave.
"Wheeze...wheeze..." Lincoln could hear Lucy's voice just barely utter as she clomped her feet up alongside his. Her body vibrated as she took in her breaths. If she hadn't been so insistent on keeping up her quiet reputation she would have been able to at least allow a stillness for her body, but even with Lincoln's decreased dash that only slowed it down to what her pace had become. Knowing that there was now time to spare with how close they were to their destination, Lincoln fell back even further prompting Lucy's own decreasing hurriedness and allowing her the chance to catch her breath. Feeling tension still pumping through her adrenaline-laced veins, Lincoln put an arm around her waist and almost immediately she dropped her head into his neck. Lincoln's more developing body may have provided a tiny bit more of a scent than her's, but not by much. And with the spent body she did possess, the fragrance was...unusually welcoming in their slowed walk. Nuzzling her face deeper against the space between his head and chest, Lucy sucked in more of the settling aroma. Whatever shakes remained within her controlled inhales calmed from its spread throughout her system.
"Lin...coln..." she said quietly. The two's feet slowed even more as they made it to Mr. Grouse's house. With how deeply she buried herself against the boy it was impossible to hide the ragged breaths that she attempted to keep in. While the exhales may have retained some shakiness, she craved the calming that the inhales provided. "Lincoln...I'm s-sorry...if I had just g-gotten up s-sooner-"
"Hey, it was my fault too," Lincoln reminded, "I could have stopped that little "match" just as easily. It's not like you immediately following me would have even done anything with how fast the bus left...the DRIVER was the problem..." Happy to have no ill feelings towards her, Lucy braked their progress to wrap her arms around his body and squeeze him. Needing some of the recovering comfort himself, Lincoln did the same and nuzzled his face into her hair. "But hey, we're here...it's gonna be alright-"
"Hey Louds! Nice job missing the bus!" an older voice hollered from a window above. With incredulous disbelief at the interruption, the boy and girl looked up to Mr. Grouse who'd propped himself up at his open window.
"...how did you know we didn't come home?" Lucy asked, genuinely curious.
"Cause you weren't with your sisters!" he blurted back. Lincoln and Lucy stared at each other.
"And why were you watching them?" Lincoln continued.
"Well gee, it's kind of hard to ignore the one that breezed by on that alien device of her's," the older man scoffed recollecting how the youngest of the students had flown into her room from the bus-stop, "Normally you at least are able to keep up with the the twins."
"Look, we...it's a long story," Lincoln sighed while Lucy hung her head. The old man cocked his head at them.
"Oh I don't care," he told them, "Just felt you might need an insult." His business concluded, Mr. Grouse dropped back into his residence and shut the window leaving the two kids to glower at each other. Muttering their distaste for the intrusion under their breaths, Lucy and Lincoln shook their heads and continued the walk to their own house. With how long they'd taken to get there it'd left no room for anyone else to have not made it home before them. Their legs hardly had the playfulness needed to bounce up the steps to the front door. As Lincoln dropped his foot onto the top step of the porch, he reached for the door but his arm was jerked away by the hand Lucy grabbed his with. Having been spun to face the girl, Lincoln looked down at her.
"Sigh...Lincoln...this was...grating to deal with..." she confessed atop the light soreness of her feet, "But...as always...hrm..."
"...Luce?" he said lifting an eyebrow at her. His air was forced from his mouth as she slid into his chest and tightened her arms around his body. Once his eyeballs had settled back into his head he looked down and smiled. Gently he stroked her hair.
"Thank you...for everything...ever..." Lucy's muffled voice said through his shirt, "I love you..."
"I love you too," he smirked, "...in a fake boyfriend kind of way." It took a few seconds, but once Lucy had pulled herself back Lincoln could see the playful grin that had clamped onto her face.
"Well...I AM your fake "girlfriend"..." she cooed. Blushing happily, Lincoln pulled one of her hands up above her head and twirled her around. She too blushed as she landed in his other arm which had shot out to catch her. "Oh my Mr. Loud..." she tried to say as seductively as her vocal range would allow as the limb pulled her close to him.
"I do believe we are ready for the dance Ms. Loud," he grinned. Grinning herself, Lucy fell out of his retreating grasp and stood back up. Lincoln reached for the doorknob again, but this time his pause came from himself. With how much running they'd done it'd probably be best to insure their presentation, even if it were just for their family. Licking his hand, he used it to brush back his slightly scraggled hair. Catching onto the motions, Lucy tugged at her own and straightened her dress out while Lincoln dusted off his shirt. After looking each other over they nodded and he turned the knob. As casually as possible they pushed the door aside and stepped into the living room beyond. The first thing noticed was the aroma of freshly cut potatoes and carrots bubbling away with some fish in some pot in the kitchen. With how much money their father had been making as of late from the restaurant gig, he'd been deciding to spice up the fish entrees he'd sometimes still make on Friday.
They'd likely have floated into the kitchen from the wafts of the smell had they not noticed the other prominent feature of the scene. While the living room itself had been surprisingly empty for a Friday, one area of it was quite occupied, moreso than it probably was meant to be in fact. Jerking to a stop, Lincoln and Lucy looked at the three sisters that stood before them on the stairway, their eyes clearly drilling straight into them. Lincoln and Lucy gave each other a confused look, but as they turned back to view the trio again they felt a surge of unease pass through their spines. In each girls' hand was a different weapon, and they all seemed readied. They would have probably dismissed the gathering as a simple game they were hoping to get the middle children involved with, but the expressions on their faces and the...lethalness of Lynn's equipment faltered that perception. Taking a sniff of the air from their direction, Lucy clutched her nose at the garlicky scent she picked up and welcomed the arm that Lincoln put out in front of her.
"Uh...what are you guys doing?" Lincoln asked. The group had certainly earned attention enough to stall his and Lucy's mission.
"Taking you out," Lola declared. As she held her hand up and snapped her fingers, Lana and Lynn aimed their weapons at them. Lincoln's pupils narrowed from the glint that the blade attached to Lynn's baseball bat flashed. "Vampires."
-end of segment-
I never said the final chapters would all be in single parts.
