AN: This chapter refused to allow itself to be written, and I'm still not super happy with the way it came out, but this is probably as good as its going to get at this point. So enjoy.
"Another day, another dollar", Lori Loud grumbled as she slipped on her work uniform.
All things considered; Gus' Games & Grub was one of the better places an unskilled teen could find work in Royal Woods (the fact that Flips remained in business would forever keep that particular bar nice and low), but Lori could literally feel a small part of her soul die every time she was forced to don that colorful, bucket-shaped hat.
Still, sacrifices needed to be made, and college didn't pay for itself in a family as large as hers. Unless you were Lisa, of course, for whom a bevy of prestigious institutions were engaged in constant competition for her favor. Lori suspected that at least part of the reason Lisa had refrained from making any sort of decision so far was because she secretly enjoyed the attention, but Lori herself was hardly in any position to complain about such things.
Personal belongings and dignity safely stowed away, Lori steeled her resolve and left the relative safety of Gus' coat room. She made her way to the register, taking stock the room along the way and letting out a soft sigh of relief upon seeing that it was relatively empty. A nice, quiet shift was exactly what she needed right now. She arrived at her station, punched in her code into the register, and settled in for the coming shift.
"Lori!" called out a familiar voice from behind her. Lori turned, allowing herself a small smile.
"Carol", she greeted in return. Her former rival, clad in her own similarly demeaning headgear, had apparently pulled kitchen duty today. Good, at least she'd have company.
Carol temporarily abandoned her post and slid up alongside Lori, a wide smile on her face.
"So…?", she intoned, holding out her hands expectantly. Oh, right. That.
"One sec, Carol", Lori murmured, suddenly drained of her cheer. A quick jaunt back to the coat room and Lori returned, Lincoln's comic in hand, albeit held as far away from her as she could manage. Carol, either not noticing, or not caring about Lori's clear distaste for the object in question, snatched the proffered item with a squeal of delight.
"So?" She repeated, "Wasn't it great?"
"It was…literally something" Lori replied diplomatically. "But definitely not something I was expecting to come from you. Is there a story there?"
"Not much of one", Carol said with a giggle. "I saw a kid come in here reading one of these, and obviously I had to check it out." With that, she thrust the comic out, so that it was only inches from Lori's face.
"Remind you of anyone you know?" She said, teasingly.
Lori paled visibly, as she found herself staring her alter ego straight in the face. The cover in question depicted Ace, visibly wounded from a hard-fought battle. The High Card lending him her shoulder for support. Both sharing the tired smiles of fire-forged comrades. And, perhaps, something more.
Lori was desperately grasping for some way to deflect the question when Carol, much to her surprise, pulled the comic back, and held it up alongside her own face.
"The resemblance is uncanny, right?" She asked, mimicking The High Card's expression, with an ease that was clearly practiced.
"…" Lori replied. Literally no words.
"That's how it started, anyway", Carol continued, seemingly oblivious to Lori's unique state of incredulity and catatonia. "I mean, how often do you find yourself on a comic book cover?"
"Too often", Lori muttered, eliciting a look of surprise from her friend. Seeing this, Lori pushed forward, desperately trying to change the subject.
"Soooo it's a vanity thing then?".
Lori hadn't been expecting the pause that followed. Or the sudden look of embarrassment on Carol's face.
"Not…entirely", her fellow blonde offered at last. "I mean, sure, it's cool to see yourself kicking butt and cozying up to a cutie like Ace", the last word prompting a twitch of irritation from Lori, "But I can't help but wonder if this…you know, if this means something."
"…the comic book?" Lori asked, carefully.
"Not the comic book, Lori", Carol replied with an irritated roll of her eyes, "What the comic book represents!"
"Carol, I literally don't follow you."
"Lori, somebody wrote a comic book about me. Me. This can't just be a coincidence."
"I'm pretty sure it's not even that", Lori deadpanned, but Carol was apparently determined to push through.
"You don't just put somebody in your comic book and give them an amazing boyfriend for no reason, Lori."
"Carol, I don't understand what you're…wait, boyfriend?"
"Mhmm"
Oh no.
"I think the white hair's kinda cute. Do you think that might be some kind of tell? That's the sort of thing that's too specific to have to been made up, right?"
Oh. No.
"When you think about it, it's like a…a Cinderella sort of situation. Except the glass slipper is on the other foot, so to speak."
Lori's mouth hung open, in what a casual observer might conclude to be simple befuddlement. However, the localized stampede of small animals that suddenly found themselves fleeing from Gus' suggested otherwise.
"Whoops, looks like playtime's over, here comes the dinner rush. Good talk, Lori", said Carol, as she gracefully retreated into the kitchen.
Lori shook her head, attempting to put aside the profoundly disturbing conversation she'd just been involved in so she could focus on the job at hand. Surely, she reasoned, a few hours of soul crushing, underpaid, service industry work would be just the distraction she needed.
Several hours later, Lori found herself standing in front of Lincoln's door. Her plan, meticulously crafted over the remaining hours of her shift, was to engage her little brother in casual conversation, and see if she could feel out exactly what this High Card situation was really about.
"LINCOLN!" She shrieked, penetrating her little brother's sanctum with a well-practiced kick to the door.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT TALL, BUSTY BLONDES?" Well, no plan ever survived contact with the enemy.
Lori had expected to find her little brother playing video games, or perhaps working on his comics. She hadn't expected to find Leni in his room.
"Hi Lori", Leni greeted her, waving enthusiastically.
The fact that Leni's trademarked dress was draped over Lincoln's bed, so very far away from its owner's current position, was also something of a surprise.
"This isn't what it looks like…", Lincoln began
The two remaining siblings found themselves staring at the spot which Lori had occupied only scant moments before. The only indication of her presence being the increasingly faint sound of her uncontrollable sobbing.
"So like I was saying, Linky, could you hand me my measuring tape?"
"Leni, normally you would do this part in your room".
"Linky, I'm not going to walk down the hallway in my underwear. That would be silly."