Chapter 16: It's Not Like We'll Never Know Love

In the weeks following The Royal Woods Ball of the Undead life around the Loud House slowly fell back more into normalcy. Well...as normal as life got for Royal Wood's flock of a family. For the first couple of days fewer sisters than normal spent their time around the black and white-haired members of the family after the unnerving demonstration they'd put on for Lori that night and the equally as disturbing display of actual laughter that followed from the goth girl. On the rare occasion one might try to get more information about just how that night had gone, but more often than not they stayed to themselves to give some space after the pair's failure on that night if nothing else. For Lucy that meant mostly the same as the amount of attention she usually received, though with the forced distancing of her former partner as well. It wasn't that they wished to stay apart. Far from it. In the isolation that the other children enforced Lucy would have loved the company that her newfound companion had provided throughout those two weeks, but they knew that would likely draw unwanted focus in the aftermath of the ordeals that the others had found out about. No, for the sake of their family's recovering atmosphere Lincoln and Lucy knew they had to make the sacrifice, for a while at least. For the days that dragged by afterwards all they could truly allow was the brief glimpses they flashed at each other whenever they crossed paths. But those glimpses were all that they needed.

They knew before long that the usual chaos of the family would fall back into line and their more standard interactions would slide into frame next to those of their siblings. Until that time their uncommon glances towards each other gave them the air of support they sought. For Lincoln though the distancing from the rest of the family, while not unknown to him, took longer to get used to than it did for the vampire-fanatic of the family. Once he'd realized the benefits of the undisturbed alone time however it became quite a bit more manageable. Just laying around in his underwear reading comic books and playing video games to his heart's content. That was the life. And it did wonders to pull him back into his more normal habits. For as much fun as he had had transforming into that gothic heartthrob, he couldn't believe the relief that came with the return to his former activities. It was as a though weight lifted from his shoulders each time he played another game. He would always love Lucy, but the sense of comfort that came with his resumed lifestyle was intoxicating.

That was likely why Lincoln was able to enjoy a steadier readjustment back into their clan once the events of that night had grown remote enough. As with most of the absurd trivialities that their family seemed to incite, so too did his and Lucy's failed "mission" drift into the background of their family's memories. Soon enough it was nearly forgotten about in favor of whatever oncoming conflicts the rest of their pack deemed noteworthy. Be it Luna's duel against the Metalheads that she'd offended or Lola's war against the other pageant queens when the judges hadn't been able to decide on a winner. Like clockwork the calamities of their household continued to interrupt the peace that their kind could only dream of. In time the former "partners" would find themselves participating in all manners of assistance towards whatever new agendas took hold. But those moments that they found each other as kindred participants, they allowed themselves that rekindled sense of companionship. Even if they were against each other at times, beneath the conflicts they delighted in the meetings.

It was probably around the incident of Lana and Leni's revolution to free the bears at the zoo that most of the sisters had forgotten, or at least stopped caring, about whatever issues there might have been with Lincoln and Lucy's prior agenda. Once a few jokes had been tossed around at the expense of the faded memories of their escapades it had been pretty safe to assume that whatever ill view the others might have had had passed into fonder reminiscing. Whatever thoughts the others had about their past partnership, Lucy and Lincoln found it progressively more relaxing to interact with each other under the view of whomever was around them. The others may have felt the strength of their bond whenever they'd acknowledge each other or worked off of each other's quips for some input into whatever conflict had arisen, but they either grew oblivious towards it or couldn't find the strength to care. And that was just fine by Lincoln and Lucy. As the days went on it was nice to have their warped lives settle back into more normal statuses, and even better still to continue enjoying that consequential link they'd formed in their time together.

For Lucy...she'd been left conflicted for a time following the conclusion of their dilemma. She wasn't sure just what she should have felt. On one hand she had completely lost out on any chance to attain the boy that she had worked so hard to acquire. She had utterly transformed her brother for essentially no reason...but on the other hand...she had had one of the best nights of her entire life. Lucy had loved every second of that unadulterated understanding they'd developed with each other. And thinking on the visuals of the boy she had been after...maybe that had been her true prize. Maybe she had wanted someone that she...held so dear to...love her back. Not say they loved her but to...love her. And he did. She knew that. And she could take comfort in that. Whatever cruel dark bleakness might await her in the future, she could always find warmth in that connection. It may have taken a ludicrous amount of effort to accomplish the formation of a bond that felt so simple, but every moment had been worth it.

That is what she felt as she looked to where her brother was from where she sat in the bus on one of the anniversaries of their failed venture. The "mission" had been a disaster in planning, but any sight they shared of each other afterwards was one of delight. With a happy sigh, Lucy turned her face to lay on the hand she'd erected at her window. They suffered more ridicule from their less outcasted siblings, but solace could be gathered from each other. Even with her fading disdain towards the betrayal that she'd felt from Haiku that night it'd been surprisingly copeable whenever Lucy glimpsed who she herself had gained from the experience. A few rows back she could hear the twins going on about whatever activities they had planned for the weekend. There'd been brief mentions of the homework they'd been left with over break, but that faded in favor of the excitements that their luxurious time off granted. As the transport slowed and came to a halt the Loud children straightened themselves to prepare for departure. With how often they took the bus, the amount of stops it took to get to their street had become so ingrained into their heads that they didn't even need to look out the windows to confirm its position.

Bidding his temporary farewell to Clyde, Lincoln hopped into the center aisle and tore to the door as it hissed open. Even if the race to the school's exit had been lost yet again to Girl Jordan's surprisingly rough competition, there was still the one to be had to the house itself. Lincoln may not have been one to always partake in Lola and Lana's run, but with how often Girl Jordan had bested him in the past few weeks he sought a victory. It wasn't enough that the girl seemed to have been aiming for him more during dodgeball as of late, but now she seemed intent on disallowing him any satisfaction. Fueled by his repressed triumphs, Lincoln bolted down the sidewalk. Having realized the intent of their brother as they'd clamored to get off the bus and overtake him, Lola and Lana sprang into action trying to catch up. The feat proved next to impossible given how much longer his legs were, but they did whatever they could to try and gain some advantage. With how short the space between the end of their block and the house was there wasn't much of a window to work in. They shouted and yelled but their threats were lost on Lincoln's shrinking figure.

He had just gotten to Mr. Grouse's house when Lana played one last card. Noticing a line of pink shoot past his side, Lincoln turned to see blurs of blues and pinkish red streak past on the frog that the line was connected to. He realized just how the twins had rocketed past him as he put his arms up to block the feet that launched at him from the tree that Hopps's tongue had grabbed onto. With a grunt he skidded backwards. With how the twins bounced off of him both Lola and Lana had landed nearer towards the door than he'd gotten. The more boyish of the two however seemed intent on denying him his victory. As Hopps's tongue pulled back into his mouth, Lana kicked at her brother's legs. In the adrenaline that came with the competition it wasn't hard for Lincoln to jump over the swipes, but the distraction allowed the other glory-hogging twin to make her own dash for the door. Knocking Lana's feet to the side with a kick of his own, Lincoln tried to go around her left before backing away at the clawing she gave and slipping past on the other side. But he didn't have time to smirk at the successful fake-out he'd pulled off.

With how close Lola had gotten to the doorknob there wasn't a chance for anything other than contention. Knowing that there was little that could stop her, the girliest member of the household slowed her stride as she turned and walked backwards to flash her grin at her opponent. The sight before her however caused her to nearly double-back around in alarm. Noticing the expression himself, Lincoln blinked and moved to the side. Whatever had spooked the younger girl hadn't been him, and sure enough as he stepped out of the way a long tongue shot past him. Letting out a relentless cry, Lana shot forward with the aide of the green companion that she clung to and slammed right into the other blond. Viciously the look-a-likes proceeded to tear each other to pieces. For some it would have been and indication to stay away, but for Lincoln it was the opportunity he'd needed. With the younger siblings distracted he ran right past their struggling bodies and grabbed the doorknob. With a loud "thwack!" the door swung open and hit the inside wall of the house allowing Lincoln to step forward. Putting his hands to his hips, the boy breathed a proud sigh of relief.

And then got run over.

Even into the building itself Lola and Lana scratched and bit at each other. Lincoln's domination over their match was completely lost on their prolonged conflict. As the dust-cloud that the younger sisters kicked up bounced around the living room and into the kitchen Lincoln began to pull himself up from where he'd been trampled. His upper and lower sets of teeth felt like they'd been crammed between each other and his bones felt like powder, but his wobble to his feet was one of success.

"Wow Lincoln, school must have "squashed" you today!" Luan laughed as she let her feet fall back to the ground from where she'd pulled them up when the twins' tornado had brushed by the couch, "You look like you just "deflated" under the "pressure"!" Lincoln rolled his eyes once he was sure his appendages had all regained their former shapes. Lisa may have taken measures to ensure that the comedian wouldn't be able to manipulate her devices as easily after all that chaos that had come from her hijacking a few weeks back, but that didn't stop the teenage Marx-Brother-wannabe from doing what she could to damage his mentality. "Aw, don't "fall to pieces"!" Luan giggled at Lincoln's souring face, "I'm sure your cookie hasn't "crumbled" completely just yet!" Lincoln sneered as he attempted to block out the continuing jests of the older sister. To help divert his attention, the smallest attendee of Royal Woods Elementary scuttled by completely oblivious to the conflict that had brought the others into the house or the joshing of the light-hearted nuisance on the couch. To Lincoln's surprise though Lisa seemed to be the only one left to enter. With how far behind him and the twins Lisa must have been to have taken so long to reach the house he couldn't have imagined that anyone else would have lingered ever farther behind her.

"Hey Lees, where's Lucy?" Lincoln asked. The toddler seemed lost in thought as she continued towards the steps amidst the clatter of the pots and pans in the room next door. "Lisa?" Lincoln repeated a bit more loudly in part to block out whatever vapid nonsense Luan was spouting off next to him. He was about to use her full name when he noticed her head turn to him as the question worked its way through her occupied ears.

"Hm?" the young genius mumbled, "Oh, Lucy's right back...huh..." Lisa let herself gather a brief moment of concern for the absent sibling as she looked around the lobby of the building but there was no sign of the ghoulish girl. "That's odd..." she concluded, "she was right behind me when we got to Mr. Grouse's house." Lincoln continued the search for the unpredictable goth of the family even going so far as to poke his head out the front door to see if she'd been held up. Even Luan gave a few scans of her own around the room once the dilemma her younger siblings presented had overtaken her ignored jokes. Figuring that Lucy must have been fine if they had confirmation that she'd made it to at least their neighbor's house, Lincoln shrugged. Given how she was she had likely slipped into the house somewhere unseen when the others hadn't been looking.

"Well...she'll probably turn up somewhere. Thanks anyway Lees, I-" Lincoln started to say, but by the time he'd turned his attention back to the scientist she was already halfway to the top of the steps. Rolling his eyes, he made his own way to them and got out his walkie-talkie. "Fish Brawler calling Dance Battle. Dance Battle do you copy?" he said into it.

"Dance Battle here Fish Brawler. You still on for tonight?" Clyde responded from the audio-piece. Luan blinked a few times and looked over to the fireplace as he started up the steps. Noticing the tremble of soot from the roof of it that the being within it tried to restrain she smirked. For as sneaky as she was, Luan's theatric protegee had her moments of faltering in the stealth she operated in. Some of the others may have focused on the frights she would usually inadvertently cause for them too much to notice the looser grasp she'd had on her sneaking as of late, but for someone that had known Lucy a bit more intricately her slipups had not been quite lost on Luan. "Totally man, I just gotta sit in on a little rehearsal and then maybe see if I can get someone else before I swing by. But yeah, seven o'clock should be good," Lincoln said into his walkie-talkie and Luan turned her grin to the voice. Perhaps that time together with him had done the black-haired girl some good if it had disrupted her habitual unheard wanderings, even if only slightly.

Lola and Lana limped out of the overturned kitchen as their brother reached the top of the stairs above. Their glares to each other ached with the combat of their failed victory but the bruises hardly felt permanent with the promise of educational freedom for the next few days. They knew that they'd have to clean up the cooking-area before their father got home, but for the time being they settled on simply relaxing their battered bodies. Scooting over, the comedian noticed another shudder of soot as a black-and-white blur slithered out from the opening of the fireplace and creeped around the back of their seats. Whether or not Lucy knew of her futile slinking, it was somewhat adorable to watch the overdramatics of another sibling at work. Confident in her stealth, the younger girl made sure that their brother had vacated from the top of the steps before making her way up. Knowing better than to throw herself into the open, she stopped at the final one to press her back against the wall. As quickly and silently as possible she poked her head out and spun it around.

As predicted Lincoln's back had been to her, but he was heading in the direction she hadn't anticipated. Regardless it did keep him from her path and with how surprisingly adept he could be to catching onto her movements after their...time together, the distance he had between her and him could only be a benefit towards her nature. Lucy was about to make her way to her room but as she put her foot onto the ground of the second floor her face drifted back towards the boy. She peeked down at the book she carried and looked back to him again. Dashing the idea of going after him, she smiled down at her reading material with a faint blush and made her way silently to her room. Both of them heard a faint crackle of energy from whatever experiment Lisa was performing in her own room but paid it no mind. It was just another day in the Loud House.


Hollow "pok"ing sounds echoed across the driveway of the Loud House as the energetic athlete of the family dribbled a basketball across it. Licking the sweat off of her upper lip, Lynn approached the basket she'd set up on the garage. Her brows furrowed and body tensed as she dodged past the invisible opponents she'd placed around the makeshift courtyard in her head and jumped. Just as the ball left her hands though her eyes widened. Looking up at her from below the point that she tossed the sports-equipment was her real adversary. A girl decorated in black and white. Lucy. Lynn let out a wince as her surprised feet hit the ground sending a shockwave up her body from the impact. Failure rippled across her pained figure as the goalless ball fell back to the ground from where it had bounced off of the ring and rolled across the yard. Shaking her head viciously, Lynn looked back up, but as expected her dreary adversary was gone. All that was left in her place was the view of the garage door.

Grumbling, the older girl limped over to her downed ball and began dribbling it again. For most children the weekend was something delight in. It was a clear-cut paradise free of the hardships of school. But for Lynn it was just another day on the field, and any day she didn't spend improving her craft was a day that might later fall to her enemies. And she couldn't allow that. Though strained in her movements, Lynn started up her next run through the made-up offense she'd placed around the "field". About halfway through the imaginary team however she slowed to a stop. Squinting her eyes, she bent down and rubbed her leg. That really had been a botched landing she'd made. With a sigh she ran her hand along it one last time and fell backwards onto her butt. Ever since she'd started practicing that sport more in the weeks following Lucy's victory over her, she'd been seeing that girl. That young monotone child haunted her every movement on the field. At first. What had originally been incapacitations during the times where she'd participate in basketball at gym had lowered down to the near-nonexistence of Lucy's haunting figure in recent practices. But she would still pop up...sometimes. And as with the shot Lynn had made yesterday, the post-traumatic reminder had faltered her actions once again.

Lynn got back to her feet with a huff. It made no sense. With the "hunt" that she had joined Lola and Lana on she was sure that she'd discovered the reason as to why Lucy had bested her in her own field of expertise. But if there had been no vampiric abilities used during their match against each other those weeks ago, how had the goth come anywhere close do defeating her? It was a mystery the likes of which Lynn hadn't encountered before. But she wasn't going to lose. Not again. That visual of her younger sister may have troubled her training, but someday it would be gone. She was sure of that. And when it was, she would challenge that girl to a match once again. One that she knew she would win. With her confidence restored, Lynn began to dribble the ball again and started running back across the pavement. And then she stopped. Not from the image of her conquesting opponent, but this time from more physical means. With a screech, Vanzilla pulled into the driveway and skidded to a halt. Lynn barely had time to react before jumping out of the way to avoid getting hit.

"Yo, what the hell are you doin'?" she growled clutching her basketball to her chest. Lori flicked her hair out of her face as she got out of the car.

"Sorry squirt," she apologized from where she looked at the screen of her phone, "In a bit of a conversation with Bobby right now."

"Babe, I'm telling you, you don't have a gray hair," the teenage boy on the other end insisted. Blushing, Lori shut the device down and looked away to spare herself the sight of Lynn's bemused face.

"Besides, why are you so surprised? Vanzilla wasn't around so you should have been ready for it to pull up," Lori scoffed.

"Oh I was ready for it to pull up," Lynn said shaking her head, "but not for it to try to run me over. You just interrupted a pretty good match against Lucy." Lori lifted her brow and looked around at the mention of the name.

"...Lucy?" she murmured, "I don't see her."

"Well of course you can't see her. Only I have been see-seein-er-I'm just...practicing for when I face off against her again," Lynn murmured with a flushed expression.

"And you think you're gonna beat her?...after she whipped your ass into the ground-"

"THAT was just a slipup!" Lynn fumed. Lori rolled her eyes at the insisting denial that the younger girl held.

"I'd reiterate how badly you got beat, but I think I'd need Luan's talents to really drive that point home," Lori said. Murmuring something under her breath, Lynn got back to her dribbling. She nearly turned her attention towards the second floor of the house as a tune from what was undoubtedly Luna's guitar vibrated out from it.

"Kiss me...out of the bearded barley. Nightly, beside the green, green grass," Luna's voice sang barely reaching the ears of the teenager that stood in the driveway, "Swing, swing, swing the spinning step..." As Lynn resumed her match against the imaginary visions of the girl she so eagerly sought to defeat, Lori watched the scene with growing concern. She didn't know exactly why, but the thoughts of the black-haired Loud alongside the soothing melody that Luna rocked into the yard surfaced some lingering tension towards the ill-remembered alliance of their brother and sister those weeks before.

"You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress," the tune played.

"Speaking of Luce...you seen her today?..." Lori asked. Swiftly, Lynn ducked to the side to avoid her latest made-up opponent.

"Sis, the only way I wanna see that girl is in a match begging for mercy," Lynn replied as she threw the ball. In a feat of impossible measures, she darted forward and outsped the ball in order to catch the pass she'd made through the group of opponents she had materialized before her in her head. "All I saw was the usual kids walkin' home from the bus stop. Lincoln was racing the twins, Lisa was scuttling behind em, and Luce, being the creep that she is, went around the back of the garage and got onto the side of the house where she watched whatever was going on inside from the window. Seemed pretty invested in whoever she was looking at." Lori's brows tightened as she looked to the point that she was told Lucy had been viewing the interior from. "Didn't seem focused on the twin's fight in the kitchen though, at least not that I could tell," Lynn informed, "That was obviously them duking it out from the sounds that were being made." Lori's rising suspicion urged her towards the viewpoint that Lynn had informed her of, but with a bit of reluctance she shook the skepticism off.

Who knew what Lucy had been looking at. Yes her partnership with their brother in the "act" they'd put on a few weeks back had been...eerie, but even if they had felt more than just their alliance for each other, it'd been quite some time since the event. And with how distanced they seemed to have been in the weeks following it there was little reason to concern herself with her previous apprehensive nature towards those young hearts. They'd earned some leniency. After shrugging the tempting investigation away, Lori started towards the front door while Lynn launched herself into the air and slammed her basketball through its hoop. Grinning, she caught the object as she landed and threw her fists into the air. Even if it wouldn't be the easiest task in the world to beat that ghastly girl at that game, it might be nice to have someone in the family that could actually test her skills in something.


A light breeze brushed through the blades of grass on the lawns of the Loud House's street. Over on the block after it a man walked his dog. For around the fifth time in the last two days he pulled as hard as he could to get the pet to keep from digging through the soft earth that a returning family had decided to bury some questionable materials beneath. In light of the individuals that had been found in the weeks following the incident it was more than the right of those that dwelled there to do as they saw fit with what had become their "possessions", but that it made it no easier for those that wished to control the curiosity of their pets. Hoping to put on an air of normalcy, the Yates children tugged the trash bags they'd filled and laid them out on the curb. The garbage truck wouldn't be around for a few days, but with the odor that had set in from the collected rubbish they'd rather have not had it encase their abode. For one girl however, such fragrances were subjects of interest.

"So, whatcha got in there?" Lana inquired. The three kids from across the street stared at her as she crawled down their tree like a lizard and took a sniff at the bag, "Mmm, alright lemme guess...pork tenderloin? Ham sandwiches?" The siblings hardly had time to stop her before she grabbed the case and shook it with her hands. To her surprise a form of deteriorated meat did show from the opening at the top, but not the type that she expected. Loosely the extruded arm fell to her face and dangled in front of her eyes. She blinked a few times before straightening back up and putting her hands on her hips. "Ya know, it works better if ya snap the joints at the elbows and knees before you shove em in," Lana advised. Folding her arms over her chest she looked back to her house in thought. To her luck quite a capable individual seemed to be digging around in the dirt at the front of it. "Yo Lees! You got a second? I think the Yates could use-"

"Sorry, not now," Lisa called back shaking her hand at them, "Just getting these latest samples collected."

"It's bodies!" Lana informed.

"Then just use some high-grade sulfiric acid!" Lisa called back as she put what appeared to be a piece of bone with bits of flesh clinging to it into a test-tube that she capped, "Breaks things down pretty quick!" Lana blinked a couple of more times before turning back to the neighbors and smiling. As Lisa made her way back to the front door she rubbed her chin. "...should I have told them they should put the bodies in a bin or something first?...eh they'll figure it out," she shrugged. Being sure to mind the shotgun that'd fallen over when she'd went outside, she slipped into the living room and started for the stairs, but stopped as she heard her brother's voice.

"Clyde...I appreciate it but...AGAIN...I don't need to eat now," Lincoln sighed looking down at the box of Zombie Bran that showed through his translucent body leaving his friend rubbing the back of his head bashfully.

"Or go to the bathroom," Lucy added from she'd floated up from the basement next to the startled boy. Grinning to each other, the two spectral children clacked their heads together.

"Ghost perks," Lincoln and Lucy said. Rolling her eyes at the morbid humor, the green-clad child made her way up the steps. Having noticed the paused individual, Lucy floated to the doorway and watched as Lola's zombie-defensed Princess Car almost ran Lisa down in the hallway above. With the alarm that the genius reacted with there was something...off about her. Lisa however just sought to get her tasks done and over with. The longer she'd stayed the less appeal she'd found. Royal Woods had certainly been in the process of healing in that world, but the carelessness and macabre that its desensitized citizens seemed more privy towards was not what she would have called welcoming. Avoiding another brush with death from the girly sibling's vehicle, Lisa bent down to a vent that she'd made use of earlier and pulled a rather hefty object out from within it. With all of her might she jumped at the attic staircase that she'd prepared when she'd first arrived and climbed into the upper sanctum of the building.

With a huff she hoisted the large book up into the chamber and looked around. She could only imagine the emptiness Lucy must have felt looking out at the barren landscape from its damaged structure. Even though the young girl knew there was no danger to be had with the threat that her brother and sister had dealt with there weeks before, she still took caution as she approached the fabled trunk that she'd taken the object from originally. For all that it had caused, Lisa did have regrets but knew that science would forever be grateful for the split in time that she'd accidentally caused.

"I guess I should thank you for returning it," a quiet voice murmured. With a scream Lisa jumped into the chest itself causing the book she'd brought to it to fall lifelessly to the floor. Rubbing her head, Lisa poked her embarrassed face back out of the object to see the unamused blankness of Lucy's ghost staring back at her. Muttering something under her breath, Lisa climbed back into the room proper and dusted herself off.

"Yes well...I...I'm sure you understand the sympathies I have towards what happened here," she coughed nervously. Getting no response she shuffled her feet.

"...yes...of course..." the foreign Lucy nodded as she drifted down towards her, "I just have one request now that the book is back." Lisa gave the specter a questionable look. She knew it wasn't her place to cast incrimination given her "crimes", but the pause that the ghost had displayed left a wariness in the genius's gaze.

"...okay, what do ya want?..." she mumbled. With a smile, Lucy took a seat behind the downed piece of literature and pulled the cover open.

"Turn the pages until I say stop," the ghost requested. Though unsure of the intent behind the actions, Lisa knew she owed the spirit and so she did as she was told. With her uncertainty it took more time than either had desired, but eventually the spirit held out her hand and bent over the page. Grinning, she looked back up to Lisa. "Perfect."

"...perfect for...what?" Lisa murmured.

"Oh those that have gone before, please come now to this floor," Lucy's translucent figure read. Lisa took a step back as the spirit threw her hands in the air. "A vessel anew has come, your puppet for whom we've brung," she continued. The scientist felt an odd heat run across her body. Looking to her hand she noticed a faint glow starting to emanate from her form. Fearfully she snapped her attention back to the reciting ghost. The face of Lucy's ghost was painted with an expression of horrifying delight. "Their soul we now offer you, into your service they pledge their due!" her voice seemed to echo throughout the incompatible properties of space that formed the attic, "Rip now their being from their soul, and let undeath take its tol-" Letting out a shrill scream, Lisa tore back towards the steps.

She didn't remember that there was a drop between the bottom of the steps and the second floor of the house below. She didn't care. Not when she'd fallen. Not when she'd narrowly avoided getting rundown by Lola's latest lap around the hallway. Not even when she'd started nursing her bleeding nose once she'd taken refuge within that world's version of her room. All that she cared about was that she had escaped the impending wrath of the ghost that now grinned down at the door she sheltered herself behind. Her panting started to die down as she poked and prodded at the damaged olfactory structure on her face. With a sigh she slumped back against the door and slid to the ground. Just perfect. A broken nose.

"Well...their Lisa should have a portal around here somewhere if Lincoln and Lucy used it to get back home..." she grumbled as she got back to her feet to begin her search. Almost immediately she stopped and looked at her doppelganger that had scuttled over to the intruder.

"Indeed I do," the look-a-like nodded, "But I'd prefer to something in exchange for its use given who you must be."

"Sounds fair," she shrugged and put her finger to her lips, "Perhaps some materials from the Institute..."

"Oh please, I had more than enough to work with when they pooled everything they could into the mall," her counterpart scoffed. Lisa rubbed her chin.

"...you still got the skeleton?..." she asked. With a blush the other Lisa looked to the closet and crossed her arms. "Just asking," she shrugged, "We both know how comforting he can be after the our whole settling down at that place."

"Which means we also know you wouldn't give up your bed buddy. That's just you looking for a way to get back home without paying up," her other self grumbled. Giving an exasperated sigh, the visiting Lisa pulled a large selection of boxes out from her pockets.

"Trade samples?" she suggested. The native Lisa nodded as she produced her own selection from beneath a cloth she had across the table behind her.

"Trade samples," she agreed.


"Thank you Loud House! G'night!" Luna Loud hollered upon bringing her guitar-pick down a final time. Holding her "horned" fist to the ceiling she listened to the applause before her. It may have been fewer claps than she'd have gotten with an actual audience, but the boy that had been chosen for rehearsal-listening did give the necessary feedback. From the rhythm at which her attending "groupie" put his hands together however, the rockstar could feel some reserve. As the shower of self-adoration waned from her, Luna's confident grin fell into a more deluded smile. Tilting her head downwards she could see the full view of her audience. Alongside Luan's dummy, Lincoln sat smiling as he clapped from her bed. She hadn't expected any reception from the wooden participant, but Lincoln's "cheering" didn't feel as genuine as she'd hoped. The reason she'd called for his attendance was for his honesty. He was always the one of the family that could be depended on for analysis, but if he wasn't giving it fully that'd completely defeat the point. He obviously did have some weight to his actions. There was no doubt about his approval of the performance. But beneath the mask he wore lurked distractions that repressed his full reflection.

"Kay bro, what's eatin' ya?" she asked as she walked over and flopped down next to him, strums vibrating on her guitar from the waves of her arms. Lincoln gave her a confused and shrugged.

"What are you talkin' about?" he asked. Luna rolled her eyes as she struck a few more chords.

"Whatcha mean what am I talkin' about brah? You got that hundred yard stare," she egged on nudging him in the shoulder. Lincoln blinked and shook his head slowly. He hardly even knew what she was referring to. Sure he'd spared some attention to his anticipated activities in his time off from school, but had it been evident enough to address? Who was she to criticize the feedback he gave? He may have...tuned in and out here and there but...he'd paid attention enough to the rehearsal...right? "Bro, I need ya on board if you're gonna be watching. I don't wanna blow it out there on the High School stage next week. Chunk AND Mrs. V are gonna be there dude," she sighed.

"Blow it? Luna, you became Lulu Loud," Lincoln reminded. The rockstar glared at the name as it crossed her ears. "All I'm saying is you were good enough to impress those guys. You're one of the rockingest jammingest girls I've ever seen. You'll be fine," Lincoln told her. She may not have cared for the reminder of her past...issues, but she blushed at the compliments he gave.

"Daw thanks love," she said pulling him into a noogie. Lincoln laughed fighting his way out of the chokehold. He rubbed his throat and straightened his collar back out as he regained his sitting on the mattress.

"Yeah you'll be fine," he sighed. Luna plucked a few more solemn notes as she watched his head dip a bit.

"And you?" she asked. Lifting a brow he looked at her again.

"What do you mean "me"?" he asked. The rockstar raised her lips towards her nose. Normally she could peg when someone was off if she paid attention. But if Lincoln had legitimate confusion over the questioning then some digging needed to be done.

"Well, like I said, you were kind of off in your own little world a bit," she reminded.

"Oh n-nah, I'm just thinking about tonight is all," he replied, "Clyde is gonna be at the arcade and I was worrying about if we'd make it in time. The recital's done though so it should give us a good half hour to get there and meet up with him."

"Always with the schematics and diagrams," Luna mused strumming some more noise for him. It may not have lightened the grimace he gave her but it did help ease the atmosphere. "I'm just messing with ya brah," she joked as she grabbed his shoulder and shook him, "Just haven't seen ya that "out of it" in a few weeks is all."

"I thought I did fine," Lincoln murmured folding his arms over his chest.

"Well yeah but...eh, you'd have had to have seen you to understand," Luna told him. Her strumming slowed as she thought his expression over in her head. It truly had been a convincing face he'd given when she'd questioned him. Part of her goaded her towards believing that she'd just had her assumption wrong. But that bit of her that didn't strove for the understanding that she could normally pick up on. It had been convincing...but it hadn't been his true expression. Even if he didn't realize it there had been more confliction than he'd let on towards his more reserved applause. Her strumming slowed even more as her mind thought back to where she had seen the inner pondering that'd caught her attention on his face before. Her music-making almost came to a stop as her eyes widened in realization while her mind stalled on the "us" in his sentence, but her body forced her to continue the beat to stave off whatever awkwardness might come from the lack of sound. Chuckling to herself, she got up from the bed and waltzed back towards the makeshift stage she'd set up to perform on.

"What're you laughing about?" he asked.

"Oh nothing," Luna replied, "You just have fun at your little date." Scowling at the callous labeling she put on his planned trip, Lincoln got to his feet as well and made his way to the door. She knew he'd get over the jest but the jeering at his perceived underlying contention would have been a travesty to have missed out on. "Romeo," she hummed once he'd gotten out of earshot.


The dimness of the candlelight danced the shapes of the objects in the room across its walls. Their constant growings and shrinkings provided just enough of a continued illumination for the huddled up figure on the bed on the left side of the divided room to peer across the lines of the pages it held. Their musty fragrance perpetually filtered through the nostrils in front of them, the aroma easing the hardships of life and existence while the eyes took in the knowledge from the slightly crusted paper it dwelt on. The quality of what knowledge they viewed might have looked petty or even insignificant to some, but to the one that read it within that abode it was the world. A flood of experience and indulgence into what normality did not allow. A gateway to what the reader desired. And what they could not have.

An unseen smile adorning her lips, the darkened girl turned the page. For the briefest of moments she'd thought she'd felt something. Something...disrupting. A disturbance in the stilled state of the air if nothing else. Just as quickly as it'd come however it'd calmed back to nothing. Perishing the thoughts of intrusion from her mind, Lucy returned her focus back to the pages before her. Within their parchment she found herself wandering. Not through the words but through the woods. Ever an appropriate setting for the genre she clung to so dearly, she watched as the words played out the vicious scene of fantastic violence in her head. With little regard to its own well-being, the wolf-like humanoid brought its snout down into the hunter's torn neck again. With a grunt and a snap it jerked back its blood-soaked lower face and bit at the chunks of the jugular it had revealed. With enthralled fascination, Lucy propped her mental face up on the hands she rested on a branch below her. Majestically the lupine figure munched and swallowed in its primal feasting. She could make out every strand of fur along its moonlit hide. She would have probably hung on the sentences she'd formed the images from for minutes had a voice not interrupted the serenity of the scene.

"Lucy?" the werewolf said turning its head to her. Uncomfortably she pulled her head back. "Luce?" it said a tiny bit louder. The girl fidgeted as she tried to sort out the odd scene that had emerged in her menality.

"Lucy Loud..." the hunter said in a similar voice looking to her as blood poured from his open wound. "HEY LUCE!" Almost exploding from the suddenness of the shout, the black-and-white girl bounced into the air and fell backwards on her bed in fright. She stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before taking a breath and sitting up. In the time that she'd come to analyze the tone of the voice that had been speaking form the characters her story had put into her head, she prepared herself for the boy that she assumed would be waiting at the foot of her bed.

"Er...hey..." Lincoln chuckled softly as he rubbed the back of his head, "...s-sorry for uh...scaring ya..."

"I don't get scared," Lucy claimed. Lincoln's eyes went to his head as he smirked. Putting her book to the side Lucy patted the spot next to her prompting him to sit. "What brings you to my humble dwelling on this eve dear brother?" she asked. It had been some time since they'd entangled each other in their antics, and experience had taught her that he usually had at least something of interest in store.

"Oh nothin'..." he murmured as he rubbed the back of his head again, "It's just...ya know been a while since we...did something together..."

"Yes," Lucy nodded inching her face closer. Realizing the shortened distance between each other the two pulled back with a smiling blush. "Ahem, I mean...that is to say, you are correct..." she murmured tucking her hands between her legs, "Is there...something you wished to um...do?..." Lincoln's smile widened as he looked back at the younger girl.

"Well I was gonna head out tonight and just thought you might...I don't know...might wanna join me in a trip to the arcade?" he suggested. Fidgeting again, Lucy looked to him. He knew that when she was in the middle of a good book most other amenities didn't usually register to her. As she looked at his face though, memories of the Sunday before their...date flooded back to her. She looked to Edwin for assistance in formulating an excuse. Getting nothing but insistence towards tagging along with the older boy she turned her face towards her lap. Of course the vampire knew her well enough to predict her caving resistance towards the notion. But...it was a really good book...and taking a trip to that cascade of lights and noise wasn't exactly the most "gothic" thing she could be entrancing herself with. She knew the other members of the Morticians Club didn't tend to take part in such...happy activities, but every kid enjoyed some part of Gus' Games and Grub. Sure there was that zombie game, but if anyone caught her getting roped into trying to outdo Clyde's, admittedly embarrassing, score on the more "dancey" contraptions of the arcade...

"I got a stack of quarters ready for ya..." Lincoln's voice urged. Pressing her lips together, Lucy looked to his face and blushed at the wink he gave her. Her teeth eased off of the inside of her mouth allowing it to shrink into a small smile as she twirled one of her bangs with her fingers.

"Heartfelt sigh," she said happily, "With you around I might never need a boyfriend..." Lincoln cocked his brow and gave a few blinks before bursting out in laughter at the unexpected comment. It wasn't long before it died back down into chuckling, but as it slowed he made another sound. Feeling the lips that pressed against his he let out a cry of shocked surprise and fell backwards off the bed. From where he'd hit the floor he looked up in bewildered enamor as the pale-skinned girl poked her head out from over the bed to look at him.

"Ha ha," she said emotionlessly through her smiling lips.

-The End-

Dear god. I'm done. FINALLY done. Don't get me wrong, I loved making this and if I had eternity to work with I'd probably keep making fan-stuff, but with this out of the way I can finally get back to the other stuff that I work on (namely my deviant art stuff (and more importantly the comics of my own stuff)). Now I knew this story would take longer than I would have ever wanted it to, but to show how off-schedule I was, the "Halloween" chapter (Royal War Z) was supposed to come out...well...on Halloween. And it came out in like December I think. Which wasn't a surprise to me, I'm used to never meeting deadlines I make for myself, but it did bring everything else that I work on to a screeching halt once I decided to buckle down and finish this thing up. I guess the final thing to show would be this picture I made for the story which you can see on my deviant art account. Just put in the periods and slashes and stuff where they should go to see it:

deviant art warahi art Forbidden-Allure-Loud-House-Fanfic-Cover-836702202

But it's over. Finally. Which is...kind of sad. I mean I'm glad it's done but whenever I have the rare opportunity to do a fanfic I just get to go wild with what I make up. Every story I do is made as sort of a treat for the fans of the series that the story is about. No, I never worked on the Loud House. I might enjoy it, but I've never worked in the actual industry (partly cause I never think I'm good at anything so I never try to get into a line of work I'd actually enjoy, even if deep down I think I could). I do however have an extensive knowledge of any series I make a fan thing about. Before I work on a story I try to gather up as much data as possible and then filter that into what I'm creating to lock it into continuity as best as possible. For the Loud House...that was a bit harder to do than some.

For me it's always easiest to wait for a series to end before working on it so that all the episodes and facts are out there to see. If a series is still going then it's usually kind of hard to predict what's gonna come next which'll throw off my view of how legitimate the story can feel. With how cartoony the Loud House is though makes it not nearly as much of a problem since a lot of stuff just depends on who's writing each individual episode so you get things that are kind of contradictory to begin with in the series if you're paying close attention the entire thing. So I just threw caution to the wind and decided "whatever. If something contradicts it in the future of the series, something contradicts it. Imma make this now".

And the reason I made this story...well...okay, lemme just say this. I don't look up incest stuff normally. I wasn't for it and I wasn't against it. I didn't do this with some intense shipping agenda. I made this story out of hatred. Do I want incest or not want it now?...I don't know. It's not something that really matters to me or that I even think about. But what I do know is one thing I can not stand is censorship. I HATE censorship. The 80s were the absolute worst for American animation in that regard (alongside most all animation in America simply being shit during that period) and it wasn't until the late LATE 80s and early 90s that the people making cartoons finally got fed up enough to do something about it and started making what they actually wanted to make again. And for a time it was a free-for-all. Obviously they couldn't do death or sex or nothin' in children's animation, but the censors were pretty much lifted for a while and it showed just how incredible that freedom could be again after it'd been stomped out over the past few decades. But, as the kids of that time grew up some joined in the eternal cycle of dragging the progress that was made back down during the late 2000s. Right now it's okayish, but it's always been and always will be a constant battle between what is and isn't allowed. Now, obviously, what should be allowed is ANYTHING when you're creating a series or story or whatever. There should be no limitation. But parental worries combined with corporate schematics that have no sense of what entertainment actually is will forever hold that in a chokehold. There can never be true unadulterated freedom when it comes to working in the entertainment industry. It's a near-impossibility, which is sad, but that's reality.

One exception however was the landscape that I've seen grow throughout my lifetime. The internet. My god the internet was such a gift. It was freedom. That was the one untouchable paradise for anyone that wanted to create anything. AMVs? You got it. Fan-works with any material you can think up? It's yours to make. Even to this day a fair amount of the internet remains that Garden of Eden for those that create. But, as with any medium that deals with entertainment, once corporations get involved it all just starts going to hell. Not like other forms of entertainment though. It'd be impossible to put restrictions on the entire internet. But they do try. The most prominent example is probably Youtube ever since Google took over and started warping that place beyond belief. Now everyone tries to get subscriptions and money and all that...bleh. But I'll always remember the days when people just made Let's Plays because that was fun. You made what you did because you enjoyed it. No other reason.

And that is why, when I see people saying "oh you shouldn't make that! That's disgusting!" or "That's way too violent!" or any of that shit it...well it pisses me off. Who the fuck is anybody to badger others about what should and shouldn't be allowed in a piece of entertainment? It's their creation. They're the ones that decide how it should be. Nobody else. They can give their input, but that's all it is. Stating that something absolutely shouldn't be done for petty little morality reasons in FICTION is just...wrong. That's why when I kept seeing complaint after complaint after complaint about the "incest pairings" people did of the Loud House well...I just had enough. I was like "that doesn't matter! If a character ends up with a brother or sister or whatever doesn't mean anything! It's a STORY! It's a piece of ART! It's the creator's choice! What matters is the actual material!". And so I sat there and thought and figured "...yeah...it...doesn't matter...and ya know what...I think I can actually make something to support this case. Yeah, maybe the siblings end up together, maybe they don't. But the question remains. Regardless of what your thoughts on the relationship might be...did you like the story?". Because I know damn well there are things I wouldn't support in real life that I have read good stories of. And no one should be encouraged to be denied the viewing of that material. It's a story, it literally doesn't hurt anybody. You just read it. To take away a piece of entertainment is to take another step towards Fahrenheit 451.

I'm not sure if I'd put Lincoln with ANY of his sisters if there weren't restrictions in the media. I know I'd love an Adult Swim show of The Loud House because...obviously the creators would go wild with what all they'd be allowed to do. Any creator wants that kind of freedom, that's why it was such a joy to see the final season of Samurai Jack. Ignoring whatever views I have on what pairing I'd do though, I took a look through all the sisters and it was almost immediate which one I'd pair him with. Obviously him and Lucy are the closest either of them have to each other when it comes to the family so that's who I went with. From there the story pretty much wrote itself. I had the entire main plot thought out by Chapter 3 I think, though I did add in a few things along the way. Originally Lucy was going to have her basketball match against Lynn about halfway through the first week, but then I came up with Lola's dodgeball revenge to add another adventure to it.

When making stories I try to write them as if they were actual episodes on the show the story's based on to make it feel as authentic as possible, and with the freedom of a fan-work I'm allowed to do everything the creators aren't allowed to. Royal War Z was easily the most violent part of the story, but I originally didn't know if I'd even do that chapter. I had a zombie "thing" as an idea and put the little "Lincoln and Lucy tried to raise the dead in the past" hint in one of the first few chapters to put in an excuse for if I ever decided to do that so that it didn't look like it came out of nowhere. And it turns out I did end up doing it (and even linked Royal War Z back to that incident in the past in a sci-fi split-timeline sort of way). Really all you need to do is come up with a beginning, maybe a middle, and an end and then you just cram in whatever adventures you want inbetween those to stretch it out as far as you want to. The plot-points are there as justification to making whatever else you want to have happen happen.

I do rarely actually complete fanfics. Normally if I start one I'll either end up losing interest or things will be revealed in the show that I'm making it of that contradict the story more than I'd like so I just end up stopping out of annoyance at it not lining up right. So it is such a relief to finally get this one done. Do I support Lucy and Lincoln now? I dunno. To make a story about something you have to become invested in it to do it right, but that's not really my concern. That's part of why I left it up to the fans to decide what comes afterwards in their lives after this story. Maybe they end up together, maybe they don't. That's not my story to tell. My tale is just the two weeks of bonding and romance that the two engage in. Whatever lays ahead of that is yours to decide. I've come up with numerous scenarios for whatever fate that the two have afterwards but those aren't for this fic. Maybe they get together and have Lupa or whatever (and you can't exactly use the genetics excuse for why they shouldn't be together since you have Lisa in the family. She can fix literally any genetic issue) or maybe they just remain extremely close to each other. That isn't my call to make (unless the impossible happens and I decide to make a sequel to this (which I won't. Don't ask. No offense but it ain't happening, I got WAY more stuff to do than work on these stories)).

"Sigh". Well...that was...that was quite the story. I'd say this is easily the best story I've ever done in my opinion. It's not at all the usual material that I work with, but it was fun as hell to do. If you guys made it to the end here well...congrats, you read about...360 pages. So...yeah. Go you. For me I'm just happy to finally have it done. I'm sure at some point I'll come back to read this and see with a fresh pair of eyes but for the time being I have it embedded into my brain. It'll be so relaxing to finally be able to work on my comics or doodle something of Transformers or whatever again. I do hope you all enjoyed though, and for those of you that normally tune in I'm beyond happy to have provided you with entertainment.