It was late at night and the Loud Family had just finish having dinner, the kids were doing some of their usual activities with the little free time they still had before bed time, Lincoln however was cradling Lily in his arms, the little girl giggling with joy at the affection.
"Did you enjoy your meal Lily." Lincoln asked his little sister. "Was it yummy?"
The baby girl just answered with a giggle, Lincoln had arrived at Lisa and Lily's room and was walking towards the baby crib and he lowered the baby Lily inside of it.
"That's good to know, and now that you're nice and full it's time to get some sleep so that we can play more tomorrow." Lincoln said as he looked down to his little sister who was giggling with energy.
Lincoln knew that she wasn't going to fall asleep by herself, so Lincoln started humming the tune that was sung by Fenton the Feel-Better Fox, when he started humming the tune Lily stopped moving around and just stared at her little brother with a smile, suddenly her eyes started getting heavy and surely enough she fell asleep, Lincoln smiled before lowering his head down into the crib and giving a kiss on Lily's forehead.
Suddenly Lincoln started to feel like he was being watched, he felt the presence of someone else, so he wasn't all that shocked when he heard someone speak behind him.
"It's been a while since I've seen her sleep so peacefully." A monotone voice said.
Lincoln turned around to be greeted with his younger goth sister Lucy, since Lincoln for some reason was able to sense her presence he didn't yelp out of shock of her sudden apperance, Lucy was slightly suprised by the fact Lincoln was not scared by her, it's not like she was trying to scare him, but since she likes to walk around without making any noise and her siblings always seem to get scared by her when she speaks up, the fact that Lincoln wasn't was genuinely surprising.
"Why is that?" Lincoln asked Lucy.
"S-she must have missed you." Lucy said, stuttering a bit from the surprised of Lincoln not being jump scared."Lisa often said that Lily would spend most nights whimpering in her sleep, the 3 months you've been gone must have affected her deeply."
"I see…" Lincoln said, looking down to the floor with a look of shame for the torment he indirectly cause his baby sister by supposedly getting kidnapped.
"Don't blame yourself Lincoln, trust me, we have more reason to be blamed for this than you, we failed you as a family."Lucy told Lincoln, she saw confusion on Lincoln's eyes and she knew he was going to ask what she meant by that, but she placed a finger on his lips before continuing to speak."If we were a good family we could have prevented you from getting kidnapped."
"I don't see it that way, but I promised Lola I would stop blaming myself so I'll drop it." Lincoln said.
"Thank you." Lucy said before turning around and walking towards the door of Lisa's room, when she turned she let out a small sigh of relief having dodged a bullet and almost revealing the secret her and her family were keeping from Lincoln, she stopped at the door frame and looked over her shoulder towards her brother before speaking."Goodnight Lincoln."
As Lucy left the room she walked past her older sister Luna, she stopped to look at Lucy as she entered her and Lynn's room, and then looked across the corridor to see Lincoln exiting Lisa and Lily's room before going into his room.
Luna decided she needed to have a chat with Lincoln about Lucy…
Lincoln had just arrived in his room and got himself in a comfortable position and was now about to enjoy one of his many comic books, but before he could open up the one he was holding he heard a knock at his door.
"Come in." Lincoln instructed, the door opened to reveal his older sister Luna.
"Hey there little dude, I wanted to talk to you… about Lucy." Luna said as she took a seat on the edge of Lincoln's bed.
"Lucy?" Lincoln replied sounding confused, he got up before sitting back down on the edge of the bed as he looked at his older sister."Is something wrong with her?"
"You may not see it but she barely ever talks to anyone anymore, the only times where she talks to us is when we have an emergency sibling meeting, any other time is like she barely even exists, I am honestly starting to miss being jump scared by her." Luna explained."I think she might still feeling guilty about you being kidnapped."
"Well, what do you want me to do?" Lincoln asked is sister.
"Do what you have been doing bro, spend some quality time with her, take her to some place she likes, If it's anything like it was with our other sisters and myself then she will feel much better and we will have our old Lucy back." She said.
Lincoln did infact feel something was off about Lucy, the lack of jump scares did weird him out, after thinking for a minute he made his decision.
"Okay, I'll do it, I'll help Lucy." Lincoln said, and he was quickly engolfed in a hug from Luna.
"Thanks bro, I am so proud of you." Luna said with happiness.
Meanwhile Lucy was trying to enjoy one of her gothic horror novels she had read several times before in the darkness of her room, however much like several of her sisters who came before she couldn't quite focuse on her hobby, she knew full well why she coudn't focus, she started to think back to the day she and her family caused Lincoln to flee from them…
Lucy was often ignored by her very family since she didn't stand out much, she didn't mind it much, she welcomed the solitude like a warm blanket on a cold night, but it still really hurt to know her family sometimes forgot she existed, once her family went on vacation but as they were all rushing to get ready Lynn forgot to wake her up and the family didn't notice she wasn't on Vanzilla with them until they were half way through the trip to the vacation spot, it really hurt when that happened.
Despite this she still loved all her family members equally…well, she did favor one a bit over the others, and that was Lincoln, she really loved Lincoln since she was one of the few siblings who was closest to Lincoln in age, the other one being Lynn, Lincoln often felt like the black sheep of the family for being the only boy besides Lynn Sr. which was something she could relate with, whenever she got stuck with her poems she would ask Lincoln for help on what words rhyme with what.
But the moment that made Lucy love Lincoln above her other siblings was the day she accidentally clogged the toilet with one of her Princess Pony comic books, Lincoln realized that she wouldn't be able to handle all the teasing her family would do if they found out it belonged to her, so Lincoln took the fall for her and handled several months of teasing on top of being grounded and missing the opportunity to go to his Ace Savvy convention.
Lucy was in awe at this display of selflessness and sacrifice and Lincoln managed to earn a special place in her dark heart that none of her other siblings did…
But then Lincoln went missing…
Lucy was an emotional wreck after that day,but you wouldn't be able to tell buy looking at her since she was not the kind of person to wear her emotions on her sleeves.
When she read the letter Lincoln left behind and she was surprised to see Lincoln didn't reveal she was the one who clogged the toilet that faithful day, she would have been thankful if she wasn't so depressed from losing her only brother.
She really felt like a faliure, after Lincoln left she would always dream about the day Lincoln took the fall for her and all the torment he had to endure, even if Lynn did do worst to Lincoln she couldn't help but feel like she also played a big part in Lincoln leaving, if she wasn't such a coward, if she could have handled being teased and Lincoln didn't feel the need to take the fall for her, maybe he would still be with them.
Lucy was bearly seen around the house, there were some days where the family thought she ran away from home, but she would always leave her poems around as a way to warn her family she was still around.
But as time went on, Lucy's poems started to become more depressed than usual, it started to worry the rest of the Louds, they started to fear of the posibility Lucy running away and doing something…
Cowardly…
It got to the point where her parents called her and told her she would no longer be allowed to go to the attic without or the bathroom without someone going with her, she would have to share the shower with another one of her sisters and the vents were completly off limits.
Despite the dark tone of her poems, the thought of doing such a thing never crossed her mind, she believe she should live with the costant pain and sadness of losing her brother, instead of taking the coward's way out.
But after that day, Lucy lost the two things she still had, the darkness and her alone time, no matter where she went, she could always tell there was a pair of eyes looking at her…
Back in the present, Lucy was so focus on her thoughts she didn't realize she started crying, however she then heard a knock at her door, she wiped the tears of her face and said:
"Come in."
The door opened and she saw the face of her brother.
"Hey Lucy." Lincoln greeted, he then looked around the dark room too see an empty bed. "Where's Lynn?"
"She is downstairs, after you told her off that day she wants to avoid conversation as much as possible." Lucy explained."She is going to be sleeping on the couch for a while."
"I see…" Lincoln said, afterwards there was an akward silence, Lincoln came to talk to Lucy but he didn't really know how to start a conversation with her, he then noticed the book she was reading and decided to use that to start a conversation."Is that book new?"
"No, I've read it many times, I am just trying to enjoy it again." Lucy said before asking a question of her own."Why do you ask?"
"I always see you reading those Gothic novels, I don't see the appeal but to be fair I never tried to understand them. " Lincoln explained."Do you think…I can read one of them with you?"
Lucy was a little surprised by this, very rarely did Lincoln ever show interest in her books, Lincoln wasn't immune to horror like she was and he didn't want to get nightmares, but here he was asking if she could read one of her, after the shock wore off she nodded and Lincoln climbed onto her bed and laid next to her.
As Lincoln and Lucy layed there reading the story they shared almost no words, but despite that, Lincoln could feel something, he felt like he was bonding with his sister, despite the two rarely sharing words, Lincoln didn't want to say anything in fear or disturbing Lucy, but he occasionally would interrupt the story to ask her a question about something he didn't understand, but Lucy didn't seem bothered by it, in fact, she seemed quite happy to help bring her brother up to speed on the lore.
At one point Lucy turned the page before Lincoln was finshed reading, she apologized but Lincoln got an idea, instead of constantly asking if one was ready to turn the page, they decided to take turns reading a page outloud, Lucy started reading a page outloud and then Lincoln would read the next outloud, this seemed to work and they were both enjoying it.
Turning each page almost felt like an intimate exchange, Lincoln would let go of a page after they were done reading and Lucy would catch the page from her side of the book.
Time seemed to fly and before they knew it, it was time to go to bed.
"Well, this was actually pretty nice, we should definitely do this more often." Lincoln said as he sat up from Lucy's bed.
"I'll go back to my-" Before Lincoln could finish that sentence he felt Lucy's hand grab his arm, he looked at her to see her look away, with a light blush one could bearly notice.
"Why don't we sleep together?" Lucy asked.
"So I'll go to Lynn's bed?" Lincoln asked back.
"I meant we sleep together on my bed, not in the same room." She explained.
"Right…" Lincoln felt a bit dumb, of course that's what she meant, he has been sleeping with his sisters for a while, It was kind of a given Lucy wanted her turn despite already sleeping with him along with Lana and Lola.
Next morning Lincoln woke up to find Lucy clinging to him like he would run away, but despite that he slept great, and once Lucy woke up she also seemed in high spirits despite her lack of emotion, once you live with her long enough you can understand when she is happy or sad even when it seems she has no emotions.
Lincoln and Lucy decided to go and take a shower, Lincoln let Lucy take the shower first and after his turn he exited the bathroom to find Lynn looking down to the floor looking more depressed than Lucy ever did, Lincoln let her step inside and after he exited the bathroom Lynn went in and closed the door behind her.
Lincoln wanted to talk to Lynn about what happened that day, but then he remembered he promised Lucy to spend the rest of the day with her, talking to Lynn could wait.
After breakfast Lincoln brought Lucy to his room, they both spent some time trying to fit reading time together into each other's schedules, they decided to set aside 3 days of the week to spend some time reading together before bed, which was an arrangement Lucy could comply.
"So…What else do you want to do today?" Lincoln asked Lucy.
"Can we go to the mall today?" Lucy asked. "They have some new CDs and clothes on stock I really want to buy."
"That sounds nice, I've been meaning to visit the stationery supplies store to buy some art supplies." Lincoln said."Let's go then."
The walk to the mall was quite but once they arrived they decided to have some general small talk, Lucy told Lincoln about the same day where he was found she sacrificed her very first poem book to the fireplace of their house to preform a ritual to return Lincoln to them, this is something Lucy took as proof that ghosts were real, Lincoln didn't completely buy it, but he was a little sad to know Lucy sacrificed her favorite poem book to bring him back, the very same book he gave to her on her 2nd birthday.
Once they arrived on Lucy's favorite Gothic store named "Cold Subject", Lucy managed to find the CDs and clothes that she wanted, she decided to buy a present for Lincoln, she walked over to him and showed him a spiked bracelet.
"Here Lincoln, I bought this for you." Lucy said as she attempted to strap it to Lincoln's wrist.
"What? Lucy, I can't accept-" Lincoln started, but Lucy placed a finger on his lips to silence him.
"Let me do this for you Lincoln, trust me, it's the least I can do for all you've done for me." Lucy told him.
After she finished strapping the bracelet to his wrist he looked at it and admired it, he really liked it despite not being the kind of person who liked to wear black.
"Thanks Lucy, it looks really nice." Lincoln said, and Lucy answered with a nod and a light smile on her lips.
Lincoln went to the stationery supplies store to buy his art supplies, he decided to take his art more seriously like Luna told him to do, after buying a bunch of papers and pencils and brushes he was about to go to the cashier to purchase his stuff when he noticed something…
Lucy was standing outside the store wating for Lincoln.
"Lucy!" Lincoln called out his sister, she looked at him and saw he had a hand behind his back.
"I decided to buy something for you as well, here you go." Lincoln said, Lucy was about to protest, but when she saw what Lincoln was hold she froze in place from shock.
Lincoln held in his hands a black cover notebook, exactly like the one Lincoln gave to her on her second birthday.
"I noticed this in the store and I remembered how you sacrificed your very first poem that I gave to you." Lincoln said."It's sad to know your first poems are gone forever, but now WE can make new ones…"
Lucy took the book off Lincoln's hands and stared at it for a solid minute before looking at her brother.
"Lincoln…I will treasure this forever…thank you." Lucy said trying not to cry, she hugged her brother and after she managed to calm down Lincoln and her held hands as they walked out the mall as they made their way back home.
The sun was coming down by the time Lucy and Lincoln arrived back at the Loud House, when the door opened they were greeted with Lynn Sr dressed in an apron.
"Hey kids, you are just in time, I was about to start cooking dinner." Lynn Sr said."Do you want to help me cook?"
"Actually father…" Lucy began to speak."There's something I would like to tell everyone, do you think we can gather everyone on the living room?"
"I…um…Alright." Lynn Sr said.
After a few minutes everyone was sitting on the living room couch except for Lucy who was standing up in front of them, Lucy was incredibly nervous, probably the most nervous she ever did, but this was something she needed to do…
"So, what did you want to tell us Lucy?" Rita asked.
"I have something to confess…" Lucy started."L-Lincoln wasn't t-the one who clogged the toilet with the P-Princess Pony comic book."
"It…It was me…" Lucy concluded.
Lincoln turned to his family to see all of the had looks of shock, and he knew he did too, but for different reasons, he didn't expect Lucy to have the guts to admit that all of the sudden.
Suddenly the looks on the faces of his family turned from shock to anger, and he started hearing them shouting over each other.
"Lucy Loud! Did you blackmail your brother into taking the fall for you!?" A very angry Rita asked."I expected this from some of your other sisters but not you!"
"N-No I-" Lucy tried to explain herself but they continued to shout.
"Lincoln and to take the blame for something you did!" Lori shouted.
"Guys, you got the wrong Idea, she didn't-" Lincoln tried to speak on the behalf of his sister but they didn't listen and instead continued to shout.
"Yeah! And he had to miss his Ace Savvy convention he was so excited for!" Luan shouted.
"I can't believe I invited someone as classless as you to so many of my tea parties!" A mad Lola said."Well, not anymore! You are not uninvited to ALL my future tea parties!"
"That con meant alot to Lincoln!" Lisa said in an uncharacteristically angry way for someone like her.
"All to cover up your stupid book obsession!" An angry Lana added.
"Lincoln had to endure being grounded for quite some time thanks to you!" Lynn Sr. said with anger."I hope you are ready to endure a much worst punishment!"
Lucy was starting to panic, she was trembling like crazy and guilt and insecurity started to swell inside her and it was just about ready to burst.
Meanwhile Lynn was swelling with anger, she the guilt inside her made her believe she was entirely to blame for Lincoln running away, but knowing Lucy did something THIS bad to Lincoln really angered her, as the family continued to shout at her Lynn slowly started to walk towards Lucy, she grabbed Lucy's wrist with a grip strength that could bend metal, causing Lucy to yelp in pain and all her emotions of fear and guilty doubled when she looked up to see Lynn winding up a fist really to deliver a full powered punch to Lucy's face.
Lincoln was also growing very angry, but the reason why was because his family refused to listen to him or his sister when they tried to explain themselves, Lincoln's tattooed hand started to vibrate, Lincoln was about to step in but then he realized Lynn was about to punch Lucy, he looked at his family and was shocked to realize they didn't seem to care, that made Lincoln even angrier and he could feel all the blood in his body in his tattooed hand, his anger finally bursted .
"ENOUGH!" Lincoln shouted, so loud that all of the Loud family could feel their ears ringing from the intensity, this caused everyone to stop shouting and they turned their attention to Lincoln.
"Lucy didn't make me do it!" Lincoln started to explain."She didn't threaten me! She didn't blackmail me! She was just about ready to confess, but I decided to take the blame."
This shocked everyone.
"W-Why would you do such a thing Lincoln?" Lori asked."You missed your convention!"
"Because I am use to it! Lucy is not!" Lincoln said in anger."Lori, you yourself said that whoever that book belonged to would be the laughing stock of the house, Lucy may seem emotionless but she is sensitive deep down, if she had to endure all the teasing she wouldn't handle it and it would destroy what little self esteem she had."
"Unlike her, I can handle being teased by all of you." Lincoln continued, having calmed down a bit."You all made fun of my Ace Savvy costume and you make fun of me on a daily bases for whatever reason no matter how little."
Lincoln then walked up to Lynn and Lucy, he gave Lynn a mean look that could have almost turned her to stone.
"Let go of her wrist…" An angered Lincoln said.
Lynn did as he instructed and let go of Lucy and she took a few steps back, Lincoln walked up to Lucy and embraced her in a warm hug, Lucy started to cry into his orange t-shirt, he then turned back to his family who was looking at him in shock.
"I don't regret anything I've done, as Lucy's big brother, as a brother to all of you, I am content with doing whatever it takes to make you happy, even if it's a big burden to carry…" Lincoln concluded, he could feel the pain on his hand fade away.
Eveyone's looks of shock turned into looks of shame, they never felt this guilty since the day that Lincoln ran away, they intimidated their sister to the point their brother felt the need to protect her…from them...
Everyone's looks of shock turned into looks of shame, they never felt this guilty since the day that Lincoln ran away, they intimidated their sister to the point their brother felt the need to protect her…from them...
"Lucy, we are so sorry we screamed at you, we assumed the worst…" Rita said looking away from her daughter in shame.
"Children, from now on-" Lynn Sr started to speak but was interrupted by Lori.
"We know what you are going to say dad, don't worry, Lucy is free to read her comic books whenever and wherever she wants in the house, and if I hear any of you making fun of her for it you will have to answer to me! Got it!?" Lori ordered her siblings, and they all nodded.
All of them started to apologize to Lucy for being such terrible siblings and after several hugs from the members of the family she started to calm down and the tears stopped, the only one who didn't hug Lucy was Lynn, if she didn't feel like trash before she felt worst now, she almost hit her younger sister she shared a room with, she was very proud of Lincoln for standing up against her for Lucy, but she also felt this only made Lincoln hate her even more.
Lynn Sr decided to reward Lucy and Lincoln for their courage by taking the family to Burpin Burgers instead of making dinner.
All of the family was happy to go, Lynn decided to stop being a depressed mess for the rest of the day to not ruin the mood, but she didn't talk to anyone, she was completely silent on the Vanzilla ride all the way to Burpin Burgers.
The kids had a great time and they enjoyed the food alot, after they went to the cashier to pay for their food they returned to the car.
On the ride back home Lori couldn't help but feel like something was missing, she looked around the car and froze in shock when she realized…
"Guys? Where's Lucy?" An alarmed Lori asked, after she asked all the siblings and even the parents looked around the car for Lucy only to realize she was nowhere to be found… the chaos broke loose in Vanzilla.
"OH MY GOD!" Luna screamed.
"WE FORGOT ABOUT LUCY!" Luan continued.
"SHE IS PROBABLY WAITING FOR US IN FRONT OF BURPIN BURGERS!" Lori panicked.
"MOM! DAD! TURN THE CAR AROUND WE NEED TO GO GET HER!" Lynn screamed.
Lynn Sr pressed hard on the breaks, as the family was in a panic, but suddenly they were caught of guard by Lincoln laughing.
"Lincoln? Why are you laughing?" Lana asked.
"We didn't forget about Lucy, she is hiding behind way in the back." He said, pointing over his shoulder to the back of Vanzilla.
All of the siblings turned their heads to look behind and sure enough there was Lucy peeking from behind the seats with a big on her face.
"What!? How did you know that?" Lori asked Lincoln.
"While you guys were at the cashier and getting ready to leave , Lucy and I sneaked away with the car keys and we opened the back door, I told Lucy to hide inside the car, then I returned and placed the keys back where you left it as you guys were almost done." Lincoln explained.
The siblings all face palmed at this, Lincoln and Lucy played them all, Luan started laughing and gave them a thumbs up and praise for managing to pull such an awesome prank, Rita meawhile was a little angry,asking Lucy and Lincoln if they were trying to give her a heart attack, Lincoln and Lucy claimed it was payback for screaming at Lucy, Rita did not argue further, they did have it coming for screaming at her and making her cry.
When everyone got home it was already bed time, Lucy decided to spend the night at Lincoln's room, they two of them decided to spend the remaining free time they had before going to bed by continuing to read that Gothic novel they read yesterday.
"Alright, that was fun but we should probably go to bed." Lincoln said before getting up from his bed to turn of the light switch, meanwhile Lucy was putting the book away and making herself comfy.
After Lincoln turned off the light he was surprised to see that his vision didn't need to adjust to the darkness, almost instantly his eyes were adjusted the moment he turned of the light, bizarre things have been happening to him and he had a feeling the tattoo on his hand had something to do with it.
After he got into bed he was greeted with about 3 minutes of silence, that were then broken by someone tapping on his shoulder, he turned around to look at Lucy, but before he could turn on his side Lucy got on top of him and rested her head on his chest.
"Lucy?" An embarrassed Lincoln called out, Lucy answered with a hum, which Lincoln took as an indication to keep talking."Why did you feel the need to tell everyone the Princess Pony book belonged to you?"
"I've had alot of time to think after you were gone, and I decided I wanted to be brave like you, I didn't want to continue hiding from my problems." Lucy lied, she admitted to it out of guilt for believing it may have played a part in Lincoln running away.
"I see" Lincoln said."I guess you feel alot better now that you don't have to hide that anymore."
Suddenly, Lucy's head raised from Lincoln's chest, she crawled a bit upwards so she could look Lincoln in the eyes, Lucy was now sitting on Lincoln's chest looking down on him, even if Lincoln's eyes were adjusted to the darkness, Lincoln still couldn't see Lucy's eyes, her ebony dark hair acted like black curtains that covered her eyes on another layer of darkness that Lincoln's adjusted eyes couldn't not see past…
"But that's not the not what I am the happiest about…" Lucy began to speak."I am happy to have you back Lincoln."
"Lucy?" Lincoln said.
"I love all of my sisters equally, but I feel like I can trust you in a way that I can't with anyone else Lincoln." Lucy started t lower her head slowly, closing the distance between her face and Lincoln's."I feel like you will never judge me on my interests and I am glad to have someone I can trust, it makes me feel secure."
"Lucy…" Lincoln said, feeling a bit embarrassed by his sister's words.
"I feel As If the moment I fall and reach out It will be you ready to hold my hand and help me up…" Lucy's face stopped lowering when her nose was just a few inches away from touching Lincoln's "I mean it when I say this Lincoln, what I love about Rocky is alot of what he has in common in you, and I would do anything for either of you…"
"Lucy…?" Lincoln started talking, but he was caught of guard by what Lucy did next…
She kissed him…
…
On the cheek…
After that Lincoln just laid there in his bed as still as a statue while Lucy just looked at him with a small smile on her lips for what felt like an eternity, but then Lucy laid down on top of hi, her chin resting on his shoulder and Lincoln could feel the heat of her breath on his neck…
Lincoln remained still for a bit while Lucy fell asleep, after he finished processing everything he let out a quiet chuckle before drifting of to sleep.