Checking Out
"That's right. I'm getting out of here. I know it's not going to be easy, but I'm not planning to let anything stop me."
With Catherine all tied up and Gregory indisposed, Lincoln was feeling confident as he ran for the stairs. He was practically home free in his mind.'Goodbye, Gregory House!' He thought as he started to slide down the banister. 'Nothing's stopping me now. Not Gregory. Not Catherine. Not-' He landed on the ground floor, skidding to a stop at his confidence fell like a rock. Standing right in front of the front door, staff in hand, was Mama. She looked up at the white haired boy and smirked.
"Did you really think it would be that easy, Mr Loud?" She asked in a smarmy manner.
"...more hoped than thought," The young man replied, gulping a bit.
"Well, one can always hope," The eldery rodent witch took a few steps toward him. "Even if the situation is hopeless. I mean, where exactly do you think you were going to go, young man? Outside? You don't even know where you are, or what's out there."
"Can't be much worse than being in here…" Lincoln responded, backing away from her.
"You really think so?" She asked, her grin becoming more evil. "Out there, you would get lost, suffer from the elements, the weather, the wildlife, slowly dying over time. Here, you would simply lose your soul. Simple, quick, though not painless...not now, anyway." The one son's eyes darted around the room, looking for a quick escape. Either side of Mama was clear, so he thought he could try and fake her out. He started to head to the right, with Gregory's mother making a move to stop him, but suddenly ran to the left. Against a normal opponent, this may have worked. However, she was hardly a normal foe. She waved her staff in his direction, sending a bolt of magic lightning right ahead of him. The middle Loud squeaked in fear, leaping back and falling onto his backside. Before he could even try to get up, Mama pressed a foot against his chest, forcing his back to the ground. "Nice try, Lincoln Loud…" She said with a sneer, her hair billowing as if she were backed by an industrial fan. "I must say, as much of a pain in the tail you've been, I almost wish I didn't have to do this. One as clever as yourself, we could use around here...but your soul has been calling to me, and it feels just about ripe." Once more, she raised her skull topped staff and started chanting in a language Lincoln couldn't even begin to comprehend.
Back at the Loud House, Lori had caught up with Lynn, who was standing frozen between her own room and Lola and Lana's room in the hall. She wanted to hide away in her room, but Lucy and Haiku were in there, and going back to where Lincoln was would have been counterproductive to her goal of calming down. She had just considered the bathroom as a safe place, but when she looked in that direction, she found herself looking into Lori's midsection. She slowly looked up at her older sister, who was gazing at her with sympathetic eyes. "Lynn, can we talk?"
"...what's there to talk about?" Lynn replied in a bleak manner, sounding an awful lot like her roommate.
"I know you're feeling bad, and I know you're placing the majority of the blame on your shoulders…" Lori started, kneeling a little and putting a hand on her athletic sister's shoulder.
"A majority? Lori, the blame is-" Before she could start on that song and dance again, her oldest sister covered her mouth with her free hand.
"I get it, Lynn. You messed up, big, We all have," The leader of the siblings told her. "Were you the key behind what went wrong? Yes. Is Lincoln going to be really mad at you when he gets back? Of course. Are you entirely to blame? No. You may have gotten the ball rolling, but not a single one of us stopped it. None of this could have happened if even one of us just got in the way of that ball. Got it?" Lynn nodded slowly, her mouth still covered. "Good. Now, the second point I want to make is that you aren't giving Lincoln enough credit."
"Huh?"
"Like I said, he'll probably be really steamed at you. No surprise. But to say he would never forgive you? That he'd hate you forever? You know him better than that," She slowly moved her hand from her sister's mouth. "Lincoln has gotten upset with us before...like when we meddled with him and Ronnie Anne. He got angry, he yelled, but he forgave us all the same...even though we were right."
"...but that didn't result in the family pretty much disowning him…" The ponytailed, headstrong sister replied in a glum tone.
"Lynn, that's…" Lori wanted to say that wasn't what happened, but she really couldn't. She decided to take a different tactic instead. "Well, for the sake of argument, let's say that there is an incredibly slim chance that he doesn't forgive us...so slim that Lisa's microscope couldn't pick it up-"
"Impossible," Lisa butt in from her room. "My electron microscope can view objects at nearly the subatomic level."
"The POINT is-!" The oldest sister started at a raised voice, reducing it to a more reasonable level to continue, "-even in that unlikely chance, you should still at least try to make things right. He deserves that much, wouldn't you agree?"
"...I know you're right, Lor...but...but…" Tears rapidly filled her eyes just before the dam broke. She threw her arms around her oldest sister, sobbing uncontrollably into her chest. Lori was utterly taken aback by this. This was very unlike Lynn.
'She's hurting even worse than I thought…' She thought as she tenderly hugged her distraught sister. She wasn't the only one to think so. Luna and Luan were peeking out from Lori's room, much like Lucy and Haiku from her own room, and they could see how much pain she was in, emotionally and mentally. Before anyone could make a move, however, they all heard a clap of thunder coming from Lola and Lana's room. Lynn turned her head suddenly, tears still spilling from her eyes.
"W...what was that!?"
"It sounded like it came from…" Rather than finish that thought, Lori simply pointed to the twins' bedroom. In the blink of an eye, everyone on the second floor flooded into the room, nearly causing a jam at the door. Down on the first floor, Leni and Lana peeked up the stairs, while Lola looked down from the attic stairs.
"What just happened?" Leni asked, looking confused.
"I don't know...but we better check it out," The handyperson suggested, the two of them scaling the stairs and following her beauty centered twin into the room. The scene inside was grim looking, to say the least. The Loud sisters huddled around the crystal ball looked horrified. Even Lucy looked paler than usual. Lola, Lana and Leni moved over to the sphere and all three gasped. Their brother was on his back, with Mama standing over him and chanting. "W...what's happening…?"
"That's Mama, Gregory's mother," Haiku informed them, looking more serious than before. "She's trying to steal his soul."
"What!? No!" Lynn cried, falling to her knees by the crystal. "Linc! Fight back! Don't let her do it!"
"Don't take Linky's soul!" Leni pleaded, who was just about to cry. The eldery rodent hag held her staff over Lincoln's chest and raised it higher, looking ready to plunge it right through his heart.
"Somebody do something!" Lola screamed. The moment she did, a gunshot rang out, shattering the skull on top of Mama's staff. The elderly rat woman looked absolutely shell shocked. "...uh...thank you?"
"What!?" Mama exclaimed, looking about the room. "Who would dare!?" Her eyes soon fell upon the steely gaze of Cactus Gunman, who held a smoking revolver in his hand.
"Let the boy go, bruja...and face a man," The living cactus growled, blowing the smoke from the barrel of his weapon.
"You insolent, trigger happy, vegetable!" The mother of Gregory bellowed. With her focus off of Lincoln, he made his move. He grabbed her leg and shoved with all of his might. Mama was thrown off balance by his sudden push, the rodent falling flat on her snout.
"Yeah! That's the way, Linc!" Lynn cheered at him.
With the foot off his chest, he sprang to his feet and rang to the door. "Oh no you-!" Mama shrieked, reaching for her broken staff. However, Cactus Gunman fired another shot at her. He was aiming for the space in front of her hand, but struck the wooden staff, causing it to explode into splinters.
"...that works too," The spine covered desperado commented when he realized his shot wasn't on target. "Andale, Senor Loud! I got you covered, amigo!"
"Thanks!" Lincoln called back as he made a mad dash for the double doors. The mousy witch was forced to take cover, but she wasn't done yet. She pulled a tiny glowing skull from his shawl and hurled it toward the door. The skull landed just in front of the white haired boy, causing a crater to form between him and the door. Rising from the hole, an enormous python slithered out, leering down at Lincoln and hissing at him. The middle Loud was paralyzed before the giant reptile. Cactus Gunman couldn't help him, as he was still keeping Mama covered. He had his own popgun, but he didn't have anything to use as ammo. The serpent reared back, ready to strike. Before it could, however, a lasso wrapped around its neck. The surprised snake thrashed around, causing Cactus Girl to fly forward and land right on its back.
"I got this, Lincoln! Get out of here!" She called to him as the python tried to throw her off like a bucking bronco.
"Thank you, Cactus Girl!" Lincoln said to her before he sprang across the rift and kicked the door open.
"No! His soul is mine! MINE!" Mama screeched as the one son crossed the threshold, out into the graveyard. He thought he was in the clear as he ran down the path and looked out over the tombstones, looking for Angel Dog.
"...going somewhere, my friend?" Lincoln froze in place as he heard that horribly familiar voice. He turned to see the old hotel owner falling from a second floor window, landing on his feet on the ground below.
"Just...getting a little air," The middle Loud replied nervously, stepping back from Gregory.
"Don't try and kid me, Mr Loud. I know what you're trying to do," The elderly rodent said, meandering toward the young man. "My question is why? Why are you trying to leave?"
"...if you know that I'm leaving, you damn well know why," He told him, his face becoming serious. No point playing along now.
"No, Mr Loud. I don't. So enlighten me: why would you want to return to your reality?" The rodent man asked in genuine curiosity. "What would that accomplish? You wouldn't have a home to return to. You would be left out, sleeping with the dog...if the dog hadn't abandoned you too. You wouldn't survive that for long, and you would just end up right back here again. It just seems pointless, my friend, to prolong your suffering so needlessly." Lincoln bit his lip a little as he looked away. Gregory had a point and he knew it. In fact, it's a point he had been worried about this whole time. Where was he going to go when he got back? "I'm right, aren't I?"
"No, you're not!" Lori exclaimed, nearly smashing her fist into the glass orb.
"I won't deny...that does have me concerned," Lincoln confessed.
"You see, my friend. So why torture yourself like that? You don't deserve that."
"Maybe not...but I don't deserve to lose my soul either," The one son shot back. "It may not be the best choice I have to make, but given the choice, I'll take my chances with reality."
"...well, how do you suppose you're going to accomplish that, hmmm?" Gregory asked, a hint of anger in his tone. "It isn't like sneaking out of your room when grounded. There is no escape from this world. It would be a lesson in futility."
"You don't say…?" Lincoln replied, his eyes darting to the left and right. It was then he spotted Angel Dog fluttering around a cracked headstone, waving to him. "...well, call me a slow learner!" He said suddenly before he bolted for the angelic canine. The old mouse blinked in surprise and turned to see where he was headed. His eyes grew nearly as big as his own head when he saw her.
"Oh no!"
"Oh, there you are Lincoln!" Angel Dog said with a big smile as she saw him running toward her.
"I'm ready. Please hurry. Gregory is coming," The one son said hastily, jabbing a thumb back toward the old hotel owner hobbling over to them.
"Oh dear! Alright then. Here you go!" The fairy like dog creature waved her wand and, in a flash of light and sparkles, an opening spawned right in front of Lincoln in the ground below him. Inside was a stone staircase leading down into a corridor lined with stone walls, ceiling and floor.
"Mr Loud! You don't want to go down there! Wait!" Gregory cried out, but his cries fell on deaf ears. Lincoln was already rapidly rushing down the passage as fast as he dared. "Oh...damn it all."
"Oh, don't get all bent out of shape," Angel Dog told him with a soft giggle. "After all, I said I would show him a way out…" She continued as she swapped to her devil persona. "...I never said he'd be able to make it out."
