Today, Lincoln was returning to school, he was very excited to return to school after being gone for so long, he hadn't had enough time to play with Clyde or any of his other friends from school, so he was excited to catch up with them again.
Luna and Luan where in their room, Luan was practicing her jokes with , while Luna was trying to play on her guitar, key word being "Trying", she was really off, she couldn't go 5 seconds playing a song without missing a note or a note came out sounding very off.
Luan got distracted from trying to make jokes everytime Luna missed a note or played it poorly, especially considering the guitar she was playing was plugged to her amplifier, after a while Luan got tired of that happening so she decided to talk to Luna, when she look Luna's way she saw that she wasn't even paying attention to the music she was playing, she was just staring into empty space.
"Luna, is everything alright?" Luan asked her sister, getting her attention.
"Huh?" Once Luna heard Luan she finally register was she was doing."Ho! Yeah I'm fine, I'm just a little off today, I haven't played any of my instruments since Lincoln went missing."
"Luna, playing music to you is like breathing air, you can play music more naturally than any other person I know." Luan told her sister."So quit making excuses and just tell me what's wrong."
Luna let out a sigh and placed her guitar down, and sat up from her bed to look at her younger sister.
"I've been trying to play a song to apologize to Lincoln for what we did, but everytime I try to play something on my guitar I get distracted, my mind always goes back to the 3 months Lincoln was missing, and even before that, to all the times we mistreated him."
"Wanna talk about it?" Luan asked her older sister and she before she started speaking about the 3 months of hell that she went through when Lincoln ran away from home.
Luna always belived herself to be the closest to Lincoln out of all his other sisters, she was the first one to hold him in her hands after their mother give birth to him, she was the sister who often looked after him, help him out when he was having problems and even sang him lullabies when he couldn't sleep.
But if that was the case, why didn't she say or do anything when the sister fight protocol or the bad luck incident happened, she didn't stand up for her brother when he was kicked out of the house when everyone thought he gave bad luck.
After Lincoln went missing and Luna realized how terrible she was for not doing anything when her younger brother was being mistreated by his own family, she considered herself Lincoln's guardian and she didn't do the one thing a guardian is meant to do.
In Luna's eyes, she was no better than does people who claim to care for the poor, but when a homeless person ask for cash they refuse to give it, claiming they would only waste that money on booze.
If she could go back and time she would punch Lynn in the face for the Bad Luck Incident and would have problably given a complete beatdown to her past self for sitting back and not doing anything.
"Everytime I try to play music I think back to does days and get distracted..." Luna finished talking.
When Luan heard about all the things Luna went through she started thinking about what SHE went through while Lincoln was gone, but she decided to push does memories away for the being, she was letting Luna talk so she could help her, not so they could bask in eachother's misery.
"Luna...I have an idea." She said getting Luna's attention."Lincoln is going to return to school today, why don't you go and pick him up after school is over?"
"Huh?" Luna asked confused.
"You could walk back home on foot, you could take him out somewhere where both of you can have fun, Lori and Leni did it and it's been working so far." Luan explained."Luna this might be what you need to get back on track."
Luna thought it over for a second, it didn't sound like a bad idea, she wanted to spend time with Lincoln as a form of apology for everything that happened, but she was too afraid to screw something up, or she didn't think she deserved to spend time with Lincoln after everything.
But she needed to move on, she needed to stop feling sorry for herself, Lincoln was alive and well and he didn't remember the bad things she did, she had more of a chance to fix a broken relationship then most people are lucky enough to get.
"I'll do it." Luna said."Thanks alot Luan, this talk is just what I needed to finally start doing something about this broken relationship."
"Anytime." Luan said with a light smile."Now let's go and get ready to school before Lori leaves with Vanzilla."
Lincoln just arrived at school, he was walking around trying to find his friends before his class started.
"Lincoln!" He heard a familar voice call out his name, and he turned around to be greeted by his usual group of friends, Clyde, Liam, Rusty and Zach.
"Hey guys!" Lincoln greeted his friends back.
"We didn't reconize you at first because you are wearing different clothes and your hair also looks different." Liam claimed.
"Yeah, I spent a day with my sister Leni and we went to the mall to get some new clothes." Lincoln started explaining before bringing one hand up to his hair. "I might new to get a new haircut sooner or later."
"Well, my dads would be more than happy to give you a haircut Lincoln, just say the world when you're ready." Clyde said, and Lincoln nodded in gratitude.
Nothing worth noting happened the rest of the day, Lincoln was happy to hangout with his friends at school once again, Lincoln was now making his way over to the front of the school so that him and Clyde could walk home together, but when he reach the front of the school he couldn't find Clyde anywhere, but much to his suprise he found his older sister Luna, who seemed to be waiting for him.
"Luna?" Lincoln questioned."What are you doing here, and where's Clyde?"
"Sup dude, I came to walk you home today, I told Clyde to walk home on his own so that I could walk with you." She explained to her little brother.
Lincoln was a little weirded out, he couldn't remember the last time one of his sisters came to get him, he did thing it was a little strange, but he decided to go with her.
"Alright, are we going directly home or are we going to visit some places?" Lincoln asked.
"We are not in any hurry are we?" She asked her little brother."I would like to visit my favorite record store, and we can walk to anywhere you want to go after that."
"Okay, I don't mind let's go!" Lincoln told her and they both started walking.
The both walking, they didn't say much to one another, it's not like it was a moment of awkward or anything, they where both just share some calm and comfortable silence.
Once they reach the record store Luna and Lincoln started listening to alot of music, Luna didn't listen to much music after Lincoln left, even after he came back her guilt prevented her from listening to music, but now she was enjoy some quality time with her little brother and listening to music with him, she could feel her need to play music return to her, and see was happy to feel the need once again.
At one point Lincoln stopped listening to music and turned to his sister to ask her a question.
"Luna, this isn't the only record store in Royal Woods, why is this one your favorite?" Lincoln asked Luna with curiosity.
"Oh well, do you see that picture on the wall?" Luna said pointing towards the wall, Lincoln followed her finger and saw a black and white picture of a black man, dressed in a black suite with drawings of flames all over it."That right there is Fresh Flame, one of the many people who inspired Mick swagger."
"Back when I became obsessed with rock I look for pretty much anything related to Mick Swagger, at one point I found a magazine at a store with him on the cover, I found that the reason Mick was on the cover was because that magazine contained an interview from Mick himself, and in the interview he was ask who inspired him to become who he is." Luna started explaining. "Fresh Flame was one of those artists, at one point he was approached by people who wanted to pay him to make songs and turn him into an famous superstar icon of rock, but the people who wanted that didn't understand him, they wanted to control what kind of songs he wrote, if he accepted to work with them his works would have had to be approved by focus groups, people who's goals would have been to make profit and become popular rather than sending a mensage to the people or having fun."
"That's why Mick was inspired by Fresh." Luna said, looking down to her hands before clenching them tightly with a look of determination."And that's why i was inspired by him too, he focused my beliefs into a good foundation for personal philosophy, the way I see it, forming a band or writing songs should be about having fun or because there's a message you want to share with the rest of the world through music!"
"After that, I found out that after he retired he decided to open a record store here in Royal Woods, he found it more fun then becoming a sell out icon." She finished her tail before turning to Lincoln."And that's why I like to come here!"
"Whoa! That's an amazing story!" Lincoln said with a look of admiration on his eyes.
"Anyways, we finished our time in the record store, any place you want to go before we return home?" She asked her brother.
Lincoln was about to tell Luna to take him to the comic store but suddenly both heard a loud growl, turns out it was coming from Lincoln's stomach.
"I'm still feeling a bit hungry." Lincoln said with a light blush of embarrassment.
"You have been eating alot recently..." Luna said before asking. "You did lunch at school right?"
"I did, I don't know why I've been eating so much..." Lincoln admitted.
Luna had a theory of what that was about, Lincoln was hitting puberty, his body was developing into that of an adult, a growing boy needs alot of food.
She found it a little odd since Lincoln was still eleven years old, and most boys hit puberty when they become thirteen years old, but she new that in some cases boys can hit puberty a few years earlier, mayb that was it, maybe Lincoln was an early bloomer.
She was considering explaining puberty to Lincoln, but strangely enough Lincoln didn't seem to be showing any other side effects of puberty, he wasn't growing any taller, at least not enough to be noticeable, he didn't have Zits poping up on his face or body, he wasn't gaining much more muscle and he wasn't having any strange mood swings...
So Luna decided to wait a bit longer to explain puberty to Lincoln, at least until she is sure he IS hitting puberty.
"Nevermind that bro!" Luna said snapping out of her thoughts."Let's go and grab some pancakes!"
The reached a place to get some pancakes and Lincoln was happily eating his pancakes, suddenly Luna was reminded by something she wanted to talk to Lincoln about:
"Hey Lincoln, I would like to talk to you about this..." Luna started talking, she then started searching for something in the back she brought with her, she lifted what she had inside the bag, it was the comic book Lincoln made for the Ace Savvy contest. " Looking back on this comic I am impressed about how good it is, why don't you try doing more of this, you have as much talent as any of your sisters!"
"Oh..." Lincoln was a little suprised by what Luna just said, most of his sisters thought he didn't have any talent, and even HE himself believed he didn't have talent, so hearing someone tell him he had talent was refreshing. "Well...I didn't do it on my own, Clyde helped alot in making that comic, Principal Huggins to an extent also helped since we added him to the story and you and our other sister help to since you served as an inspiration to the comic."
"Don't sell yourself short bro, the fact that your first comic is this good is sign of that, if you start sharpening your talents I'm sure your make something amazing in the future."Luna said. "Not to mention that doesn't explain why you haven't done more."
"I don't think it count, I problably wouldn't have won without Clyde helping me out." Lincoln explained."Not to mention, when I realized I was not as talented as you I decided to play the role of peacekepper in the Loud House, If I start chasing after my own talents I won't be able to spend as much time with you or our other sisters, and with how often our sisters need help I don't think I can do both..."
Luna was happy with his response, she was truly blessed with having such a selfless brother, but she decided to encorage him to work on his talent, even though on his letter Lincoln claimed the reason he left was because of the way she and her other sisters treated him, she couldn't help but feel that jealousy of their talents also played a small part on his choice to leave them.
"Linc, while I admire how selfless you are being for our sake, I think that you should draw more, we are here to be happy, and I don't think our sisters would be happy to hear you are sacrificing your happiness for our own,I can tell you I am not happy to hear that, you deserve being happy as much as any of us..." She told him, her rock girl attitude completly dropped, she was speaking in a very soft spoken way, like she was opening her heart to Lincoln, but after that little speech she looked at Lincoln with a kind smile. "Besides, all our sisters make some time to enjoy ourselves with the rest of our family despite our talents, if we can do it then so can you Lincoln, so how about tomorow we drop by the mall and buy you some more professional artist tools?"
Lincoln thought to himself for a moment...
"Ok, but I don't know if our other sisters will be happy about that..." Lincoln told Luna, still a bit unsure.
"Don't worry, they won't mind bro!" She told him ruffling his hair.
After the ate their pancakes they made they're way back home, but they hear a strange sound coming from around the house, they saw something moving on they're trash can.
"What's in there?" Lincoln asked a little worried.
"Maybe Lana is looking for things to eat in the trash again?" Luna said trying to racionalize the situation despite being as worried as her brother.
Suddenly something jumped out of the trash can, Luna was shocked to find out it was the dog that guided her and Lynn to Lincoln when they found him in the forest, the dog that had the same symbol Lincoln had in his hand, the dog pounced into Lincoln and started licking his face, Lincoln started giggling, after a few moments Lincoln turned to his sister.
"Do you think we can keep it?" He asked her."I don't know why, but something there's something about this dog that feels very familar, even thought I've never seen it before..."
Luna thought it was weird that Lincoln apperantly felt a connection with the dog, but she decided not to thing to hard about it.
"You are going to have to talk to mom and dad about that bro." Luna told him."With how many pets we have already it's hard to say..."
They entered the house with the dog, when Lana saw the dog she was bouncing all over the house and asking the Loud parents to keep it, the parents didn't know if it was a good idea, despite Lana's puppy dog eyes they felt like keeping it wasn't a good idea, Luna decided to step up and tell them that the dog was the one that helped Luna and Lynn find Lincoln, if it wasn't for the dog they problably wouldn't have found him.
The parents started thinking about it better, they decided to let the Akita dog into the house and see if it got along with the other animals in the house, if it did they would keep it, and oddly enough the dog seemed to get along with the other animals, and the other animals didn't seem bothered by the new dog's presence.
"So what do you say honey, room for one more?" Lynn Senior asked his wife.
"I don't see why not." She gave them her answer. "But we should take him/her to the vet tomorrow morning."
"YAY!" Lana cheered, she then started hugging the new Akita dog, she then started checking th dog to see it's gender."It seems to be a female, what are we going to call her."
Before the sibings could start coming up with names Luna spoke up.
"I think we should let Lincoln decide." Luna said."He was the one who wanted to bring the dog home first after all."
They all turned to Lincoln, Lincoln took a long look at the dog, the sisters all leaned in to hear the name, Lincoln turned to the rest of his family with a smile.
"Liberty!" He shouted.
"Liberty...I like it, what do you think girls?" Lynn senior turned to the rest of his family and they all nodded with smiles.
"Welcome to the family Liberty!" All the Loud sisters cheered.
Nothing much happened after that, Luna decided to hold a sibling meeting asking her other sisters go give Lincoln some time to chase his own ambitions, the sisters were going to have to rearrage their calenders for the times they could spend with Lincoln, some of them weren't happy, but when Luna explained that she felt jealousy also played a part in Lincoln leaving they gave in for fear they lose their brother again.
Luna asked Lincoln to sleep with her for the night, which Lincoln was very happy to do, whenever he had trouble sleeping at night Luna's door was always open to let him sleep with her, so he didn't find it very strange, they both laid in bed cuddling up to each other until they went to sleep.
Luan entered her and Luna's room to find her sister and Lincoln cuddling up to eachother, she smiled at the image with pride.
"Looks like my idea worked after all." She claimed before placing a kiss on Lincoln's cheek and making her way to her own bed to sleep.
"Goodnight you two." She said before drifting off to sleep.