Introduction

Welcome, dear readers.

Welcome to the tome of a tortured soul, cast in sin from the very moment of birth.

If you hold this text, it means you have been trusted with the secrets of this soul, secrets which he has clearly entrusted to you. For the only reason you should be holding this text is that you have been entrusted it by the author.

If you have not been personally approved to hold and read this book, go no further. For an ancient curse has been placed on this volume, and if those unchosen were to read beyond this page, the Fell Beast of Pitch and Rage, Mograr, Terrible be his name, will rise from his ashen tomb to devour their bodies, and make soup from their blood, at the Sixth second of the Sixth minute of the Sixth hour from when they opened to the forbidden pages.

For those who have been selected to look over these pages, however, please continue. Continue, and learn from the notes of this tortured soul. And take his words with you to your grave, for the consequences for an oathbreaker are far too horrible to write on the page.

This is the Diary of Lemy Loud, Child of Sin.

...

"…pffhahahahaHAHAHA!" Lynn fell back on the bed, her arms wrapped around her stomach as she found herself completely unable to hold back her laughter. "Oh my god, this is TERRIBLE! Did Lemy really write this crap? Oh god, I…hahahahahaaaah!"

Lincoln, sitting on the edge of his bed, stared down at the book, which he had just narrated the first page of, before glancing over to the still-laughing Lynn next to him. Figuring it wouldn't be worth talking to her until she got control of herself, he glanced back to the book and muttered, "…why does the last line look weird, here?"

"He signed his name in blood." Lucy, sitting on the other side of Lincoln, pointed to the name on the bottom of the page, which looked different from the rest of the text. "Browning, slight residue, and this drop here…yep. Classic marks of a blood signature."

"He did not!" Lynn shot up to glance at the signature her sister had pointed out. "Oh my god, he DID! That looks just like the times you would sign poems in blood! Oh man, this is just too much!"

Lincoln rolled his eyes as Lynn kept laughing before he continued, "Shouldn't we be, I dunno…slightly concerned that Lemy is potentially making himself bleed in order to sign things in blood?"

"Why?" Lucy looked over to Lincoln. "Is that strange?"

"Well, I mean…" Lincoln thought about replying, but gave up after realizing the pointlessness of such a task. "Never mind. Wrong person to ask on that one…"

"Ohhh man, I dunno if I can make it. Seriously, any more of this, and I may die laughing." Lynn managed to pull herself out of her mirth in order to sit up again. "How did you even get Lemy's diary in the first place, Linc?"

Lincoln sighed. "I was given it. By Leia. She…asked me to hold onto it for her for a couple days."

At this, Lucy and Lynn exchanged knowing glances. There was a beat of quiet before Lucy looked back to Lincoln and said, "She's probably using his diary to blackmail Lemy, isn't she?"

"Oh yeah." Lynn nodded almost immediately.

"No doubt about that." Lincoln quickly concurred. "Should we give it back to him, or…"

"No way! Are you kidding me?" Lynn furiously shook her head. "I ain't messing with Leia! She goes after the ankles!"

"I thought Lola was bad, but when Leia gets that posse of hers together…" Lucy shuddered. "No. Wait a few days before you give it back. If Leia complains, tell her you held onto it, like she asked. She won't argue against you, Lincoln."

"Yeah, she won't hold it against her daaaddyyy, will she, Linc?" Lynn exaggerated the word, her eyebrows wiggling suggestively for further emphasis.

"Yeah, yeah…I get it." Lincoln sighed again. "So, until then, what am I supposed to do with this?"

"Oh oh, let's keep reading!" Lynn scooched closer to Lincoln. "I wanna see how crazy this train wreck gets!"

"Really?" Lincoln raised his eyebrow at Lynn's enthusiasm. "Isn't that kind of a major breach of privacy we're talking here?"

"Aw, c'mon, Linc! What, are you afraid of Mor-rar, God of Rage and Pitching making delicious soup from your blood?", said Lynn, elbowing Lincoln gently in the chest.

"Ow…no, of course not!" Lincoln shifted to get away from Lynn's not-as-gentle-as-she-thought elbows. "I just…I mean, I remember being a 12-year old boy, and it's a weird time, and it feels weird butting into his personal writings on that time!"

"Then why did you ask for us to look at this with you?" Lucy raised an eyebrow at Lincoln…not that he could see it through her bangs, of course. "We wouldn't be breaching his privacy if you hadn't called for us."

"That's…true, but…" Lincoln hesitated, as he couldn't deny his sister's point. "I mean, I got this book with no title or cover, and I open it up, and the first thing I see is…that…I kinda thought we should be a little concerned, maybe. I didn't think you'd see it as some big joke."

"You saw THAT and thought no one would find it funny?" Lynn pointed to the still-open book. "No offense, Linc, but that's like the text version of a Meat Loaf cover. It is NUTS."

"Maybe you should talk this over with Luna instead?", offered Lucy. "She's his mom, she'd probably take it seriously…"

"She's on tour…won't be back for a week." Lincoln shook his head. "Lori and Leni are busy at work, and they asked Lola to help them. Lana's trying to fix Vanzilla again, Lisa's in the middle of an experiment downstairs, and Lily won't be home from college for weeks. You two are the only ones around I can ask."

"Uh…you forgot someone?" It was Lynn's turn to arch an eyebrow. "What about Luan?"

"…I don't want this to be a big joke…" Lincoln muttered after a beat, "…so you want me to talk about it with Luan…?"

"Ah. Right, right." Lynn shrugged. "Welp, then we're what you've got, and we say keep reading. So…c'mon. Next page, Linc."

Lincoln thought about it for a moment, before sighing and looking back to the book. "All right, fine. But only because I want to make sure he's doing ok. So be a little serious about this, or I'm putting it right away, Lynn."

"Roger that, Linc." Lynn did a mock salute, before giggling and ruffling her brother's hair to relieve the tension in the air. Lincoln chuckled a bit as he fought Lynn off, which was enough to convince her the job was done, as she pulled her hand away.

With that taken care of, Lincoln's hand returned to the book and turned the page. Sorry Mograr, he thought to himself, but we're gonna be reading a little more…

...

Entry #1.

Sunday. Weather: Heat that sears the flesh.

The day begins as many do, with my sanctuary being invaded by the ferocious she-devil.

"Lemy, it's time to get moving. Lemy! You're not planning on wasting the day in bed, are you?"

Sunlight enters the room through the now opened door. I attempt to ignore it, feigning that I am still asleep, though I know it to be futile. This she-devil is crafty, oh yes, and wary to my tricks.

"I know you're awake, Lem. You're not fooling me. So, c'mon, it's…man, it's cold in here. Did you leave your A/C on high all night?"

She wastes no time bringing forth her first demonic weapon–an otherworldly nagging ability. I brace my soul for the incoming onslaught.

"You know Dad told us all that we need to bring it down at night to save on energy, right? I know this heat wave is tough, but you can't just blast the A/C 24/7. Especially not to the point your room becomes an ice box, anyway."

Heh. These nags have no effect on me. My soul takes no damage. Clearly, I'm getting stronger against her evil…

"I said get…UP!"

!

Damn! She has switched to a direct method of attack! I am powerless against the icy cold blast as she rips away my shield!

…she took my blanket away, the evil bitch. Grabbed it right off from me in one pull.

"C'mon, Lem, just because it's a day off doesn't mean you can laze about all day. We've got chores to take care of."

Grumbling, I rise from my bed, glaring silently at the she-devil, who also happens to by my older sister Lyra. A withering gaze. She is withering. And…rolling her eyes, looking a bit annoyed. So maybe…a partial withering, I guess? You know what, never mind.

"I don't know why, if you're so hot you sleep without a shirt and with the A/C at max, you also need to use a thick blanket like this as well." She returns to her nag attack, and without the mighty shield of my blanket, it is more effective than before. "Whatever…I'm on laundry duty today, so I suppose I can give it a wash while the heat wave keeps up. Use something lighter tonight, after you turn down the A/C. You won't notice the difference."

"Heh…" I decide to fight back against her assault. "For your information, it's more comfortable for me to have things this way. It's easier to fall asleep under that blanket. You wouldn't like it if I came in your room and told you to change your sleep routine because I found it annoying, would you?"

"First off, you walk into my room, and you won't live long enough to regret it." Lyra snapped back at me, attempting a withering gaze of her own. It is…actually pretty effective. "And secondly, maybe not, but since Dad asked us to because the budget is tight this month, I'd understand and deal with it for as long as I need to."

"Pfft." I try to blow her off, again fending off her nag attack with cool indifference. "Whatever, you can do the goody two-shoes thing if you want. But leave me out of it." I pause, then notice something about what she's saying that gives me an opening, as I continue, "And what's with all the sudden respect for what Dad says? Since when has his word been so important to you?"

"That's…nothing." Ah. She's trying to avoid the issue. There's something there, alright. "Besides, I don't have to approve of everything he says to admit when he's making sense. So instead of complaining about it, just do as we say and cut down the A/C once in a while."

With that, Lyra grabs the A/C remote that was lying on the floor and points it at my A/C. A few beeps later, and the loud whirring of the machine begins to quiet. Then she puts my remote in her pocket and picks up a few pieces of my clothes that are strewn about the…wait.

My remote. In her pocket.

"Hey, wait, give that back, dammit!" I get up off my bed and walk over to her, reaching out to grab my remote back before she can make off with it.

"No way!" Tucking the rolled-up blanket and clothes under her arm, Lyra fends me off with her free hand as I try and get the remote back. "And watch your language! Now stop…hey! Where do you think you're touching?!"

"A weak spot!" Unable to get around her defense of the pocket…damn this four-year age gap…I instead aim a bit higher and try to tickle her around the waist.

"That's cheat…pffhahaha…you l-little brat…haha…!" Lyra's demeanor changes as my assault takes effect. Heh, just as planned. Soon her defense will collapse utterly.

What I hadn't planned on, however, was that the discoordination resulting from my tickles might lead to her loseing her grip on the pile of clothes and blanket tucked under her arm.

I also didn't plan on said pile falling to the ground and tangling around our feet.

And I certainly didn't plan on tripping forward due to these clothes around our feet, falling into Lyra, which made her also lose balance and fall backwards.

I swear to all that is black and metal that I did not plan this.

But it did not change the fact that, a few seconds later, we had both fallen down, with me laying on top of her.

…I was very close to her face.

Close enough to see the desire to kill me building in her eyes.

I shot straight up, about a nanosecond after we hit the ground. "Whoops, heh…gotta be careful of, uh…what you're holding there, Lyra! It can be…dangerous, y'know, if you're not thinking about it, and, uh…yeah!"

Lyra kept glaring at me while laying on the ground, but the murderous desire was slowly fading into mere annoyance. Phew. That's what fast thinking will do for you.

Eventually, she just sighed, lifted herself up, and quietly picked up the blanket and a few of the clothes on the ground. She didn't look at me for the whole time as she busied herself, before finally saying, in a half-mutter, half-growl, "You are on trash duty today. Get it done before Dad and our aunts get home. Also, if you would like to have anything clean to wear to school for the week, bring me your clothes sometime in the next hour. Understood?"

"Y-yeah. Got it." Knowing better than to press my luck further, I quickly nodded. Lyra shot me a single glare as I did so, before she sighed and walked out of the room.

I watched her leave, waited about a second, then allowed myself to breathe again with relief. Well, she had made off with both my blanket and A/C remote, but overall it was a fairly solid escape after getting that close to murder-mode. It could have been a lot worse. In a lot of ways.

…Speaking of which.

I glanced down. I was wearing a pair of light shorts to bed the night before, and…they weren't hiding much of what was happening there…

…It was a good thing Lyra had stormed out of the room without looking at me too closely.

I leaned back against the wall, again damning this four-year age gap as I waited a moment for the…situation to resolve itself.

...

"Boy, they do not get along at all, do they?" Lynn muttered as Lincoln stopped reading for a second. "I mean, not that that's news, we see them fight all the time, but it's still a lot when you're seeing what one of them thinks about it."

"Classic sibling rivalry. Made more intense since they're the only full siblings in the house. I wouldn't read too much into it." Lucy also looked up from the pages of the journal. "It's pretty typical for kids at that age…I mean, we used to fight too when we were kids."

"Well, yeah, but those were just a few scraps here and there." Lynn shifted her gaze to her sister. "I mean, these two are practically at DEFCON 5 at all times with each other. I just don't think…"

"Uh…guys?" Lincoln cut Lynn off as he got into the conversation. "I hate to bring this up, but aren't we missing the bigger problem here?"

Lynn and Lucy looked at Lincoln, then each other, then the pages, then back to Lincoln, before they both replied, "What?"

Lincoln glanced at the two of them before sighing, "…Lemy probably…got a boner…from being close to Lyra, didn't he?"

Lynn raised her eyebrow, then looked back to the page and re-read the last few lines. "Oh, yeah…that's what he's beating around the bush about. Heh, well, Linc, he sure is your boy, isn't he?"

"Th-that's…not what we should be focusing on, is it?" Lincoln stammered out a reply, as Lynn and Lucy both smirked at him. "I mean, we should be concerned, right? That's not…um…"

Lincoln trailed off, and Lynn started giggling at his inability to find the words. Lucy patted him on the back and said, "I understand what you're getting at, Lincoln. It's hard to make a point that you so clearly contradict by your very existence."

Lincoln rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks, Luce."

"Don't mention it." Lucy's smirk widened just a hair as Lynn's giggling grew louder. "But I really wouldn't worry in Lemy and Lyra's case. The way they fight, I'm almost certain it was just a one-off reaction, and nothing more than that."

"Yeah…it's all part of being twelve and having all those hormones messing you up." Lynn nodded, having controlled her giggles. "Don't worry about it too much. And here, my turn to read a few pages."