The Loud House: Future Love Run Amok!

by TotCall720

Three years into the future and things are going to be shaken up, big time. New forbidden relationships emerge as Lincoln struggles to find out what's going on with the nature of the older Loud sisters still at home, and with himself. The ball gets rolling with Luna, and spirals from here. Potential Harem in the future. Reviews, PM feedback and critique strongly desired. Thank you!

20. Chapter 20

Ch 19: Funerals, God and Revelations, Period! Part 2/2

"...I understand why ya did that Other Leni, but...holy fuckin molly...you better hope this doesn't bite us in the ass," Luan groaned in anger. She felt horrible now for how things escalated so precipitously. Even though she knew it wasn't true, the gut feeling that she felt in her tummy, how everything fell apart so badly, was all from a lack of her keen people skills and attention, particularly in her lack of response to the ever developing looks of stress and turmoil in Lincoln's eyes and movement.

"God damn it! The one time I don't act on my gut and intervene to do something...I failed you Lincoln...I was suppose to keep you safe...I royally overestimated and failed," Luan kept thinking, in reality feeling these words more than thinking them. She felt she seriously embellished Lincoln's capacity to handle the entire trauma he went through. Now it seemed everything in the last few minutes popped a horrific deluge of bent-up emotions and angst-ridden feelings brewing deep in her younger brother.

"Luan, I'm sorry," Other Leni mumbled in regret, "...that's just...who I am, and-"

"And nothing Other Leni! I'm glad you stopped that asshole, but you went way overboard! Seriously! You need to make sure you don't go overboard like that ever again! FUCK! Now mom and dad are gonna be hounding you...Leni, the both of you about this! She could go to jail for assaulting that guy you know!"

"...I'll cover for her Luan."

"How can you genius!? You're inside Leni! You're both in the same damn body Einstein! I can't believe you just...UUUGGGHHH! You know Leni's not good with confrontation, and now she's gonna get in serious trouble. You could have just stared him down and make him shit himself."

Other Leni mumbled lowly, "I'll...I'll promise Leni doesn't get the bad end of this Luan."

"You better. I dunno how but you better. And I know that was all for Lincoln's sake...good lord...Lincoln. Other Leni? We'll talk about this later. Right now we need to catch up and-"

"Are you guys okay?" Sam suddenly asked behind them, her cloths and hair frizzled and messed up from coming through the mob in the church, now quieting down from utter pandemonium minutes earlier.

"Pastor Adams is getting everyone back under control and restarting the services a little later after all that...Leni, right?" Sam asked, looking up at Leni in Other Leni's form. Sam felt...unbelievably intimidated by the shear aura and intensity Other Leni was radiating off her person, not to mention how beautiful and physically powerful she looked, which she demonstrated quite easily on that huge round muscular military man who probably weighed well past three hundred and fifty pounds.

"Hey, aren't you the girl who took Luna's boyfriend?" Luan asked Sam rather point-blank and callously.

"Ummm...Luan...yeah...it's, it's a bit more complicated than that. Luna can tell ya if she wants, but...look, do you need help finding your brother? It's the least I can do if you nee-"

"We're good, thanks," Luan snapped back at Sam. It stung Sam: she knew Luan gave a subtle, venomous, retaliatory snap in the tone of her voice, for putting Luna through that ordeal, even if Luan didn't know the full truth. Luan was the closest sister to Luna, and as such, to Sam's reasoning, got full steam of the parts Luna vented out during that whole escapade. Losing a boyfriend to a man-stealer...that's what Luan saw in her Sam thought.

A fiery frown firmly planted on Luan's face, directed at Sam, she started pulling Other Leni away, giving Sam a full blown cold shoulder.

Other Leni put her hand on Luan's shoulder and stopped her, then turned around and gave Sam a very small smile.

"Sure, we could use an extra set of eyes...if you're okay with that," she asked Sam.

Sam gave a tiny smile.

Luan huffed, but begrudgingly guessed it would be good to have the extra eyes, since no one knew where Lincoln took off too. She just hated it had to be with the girl who she thought destroyed Luna's previous relationship...still none the wiser about what was really up.

Luan pulled her cellphone and tried calling Lincoln.

No response.

She grabbed Other Leni's cellphone and tried.

No response.

"Hey, if you're gonna join us, I need to use your cellphone for a moment."

Without a second's hesitation Sam threw it to Luan, calling Lincoln from a number he would presumably not know.

Again, no response.

"Great...he's not answering," Luan huffed, peeved off at Lincoln for not having some reserve to let them know he was in at least a safe place.

"...also," Other Leni mumbled to Sam, "...that's...that's not me, normally...back there, what I did to that man. I don't normally do that to people, unless-"

"It's okay! I get it. He's family, and even if your bro snapped and said some pretty gnarly bad things about God, it wasn't right of that guy to slap the daylights out of him like that. Hopefully what happened back there will cancel itself out."

"What do you mean?" Luan inquired, curious about what Sam meant.

"I grew up in mostly black communities, so I gotta feel for how this might work out. Even if Leni nearly choked him to death, he could still be found guilty of assaulting a child, aka, Lincoln. Lot's of witnesses and such, so...everyone there might just quietly sweep this under the rug. I...I can't say that'll happen, but I doubt anyone wants more drama from this. We like to keep things at the local level, ya know?"

"...we...okay...that's actually a pretty good point Sam. We'll...just wait and see." Luan said with less stress in her voice, hopeful that Other Leni and Leni by extension would get out of this.

"Better hope she's right," Luan whispered over to Other Leni.

"Me too," Other Leni said, giving another faint smile, Luan just huffed, and they all departed as a single unit out of the church.

Meanwhile...

2:47 PM

Outside it started pouring down rain. A rainstorm was engulfing the landscape everywhere. It was nothing like several weeks ago in terms of the stormy thunder and winds, but just tons and tons of rain, washing down everything.

Luna took off like a bullet through the parking lot, running to Vanzilla.

No Lincoln.

Behind her Rita, Lynn Sr and Barry were running as a group, searching the parking lot, calling out Lincoln's name. It was surprising Barry could still run like that, considering how old and round he was.

"Luna! You find him!?" Lynn Sr called out, still ever alert for any signs of of his only son. Rita and Barry called out for him, Rita in particular crying from seeing her son snap and get hit like that.

"No pops! I don't see him! He's not in Vanzilla!"

"Where the hell could he have gone?" Lynn Sr growled angrily, looking back at the church, feeling a paternal need to impart his rage on the man that hit his child.

"If I see that son of a bitch again..."

"Honey! No! He's not worth it! Just focus on Lincoln! Please!"

Lynn Sr...to the credit via Rita, complied, backing off his want to go back in the church and wail on that man.

"Besides...I think Leni did a real number on him," Rita coyly said with a smirk.

"I'll say she did. Didn't know anyone would pick up Maurice like that. Stupid moron," Barry growled out. "I may dislike everything that boy said, but that's NO EXCUSE...to ever hit a child, especially one as lost in soul and hurtin as him."

"...and now we gotta deal with how this is going to bite Leni now...huuuuhhh...Luna? Did Lincoln bring his cellphone with him?" Rita asked.

"I...I think so. Call him up."

Luna, Rita, Lynn Sr hunkered back over the canopied church opening, each calling Lincoln one by one.

No answer.

Lynn Sr asked Barry if he could use his cellphone to call him, to which he more than obliged.

Still no answer.

"...WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY BOY!?"

"Mr. Loud, please, I beg ya, calm down. Please...we just gotta keep our cool and let the boy simmer down for a bit," Barry tried advising Lynn Sr.

Rita tried frantically calling Lincoln again...nothing.

But in Luna's ear, she heard a very subtle buzzing sound through the hard rains pounding the asphalt.

Luna meandered over to the source of the buzzing, and she saw it on the ground, vibrating and echoing away; the sound of Ace Savy's theme music.

"Whoa...Lincoln's cell...MOM! DAD!"

They all came out, over by some parked cars on the corner of the church opening.

"...uh oh. Lincoln must have dropped this somehow when he was running out," Barry opinioned.

"Hey! Did ya find him yet!?" Luan suddenly called out with Other Leni and Sam in tow. Luna and Sam just gave each other rather awkward facial expressions.

"...what the heck is Sam doing here?" Luna thought.

"No honey. Lincoln's somewhere around here, and he dropped his phone, so we can't contact him."

"Well, we gotta split up and find him then," Other Leni said in her Other Leni tone. Rita and Lynn Sr gave her some glances from her tone shift they knew their daughter typically had. Luan elbowed Other Leni.

"I mean, like, that's the only way to find Lincy. He's totes not doing well after...all that bad stuff."

"Agreed. I really think Lincoln needs some help Lynn. He's...he's in so much pain!" Rita quivered, trying to compose herself. Lynn Sr, Luan and Other Leni hugged her tight to console her.

"We need ta split up. In all directions, is that agreeable?" Barry asked.

"Agreed," Lynn Sr replied, all nodding in confirmation, Sam to a slightly lesser extent.

"Alright. Sam, is it? Beautiful organ playing by the way. You and me should go explore the west up there by the KFC and highway. Rita, Lynn? You go down south. Leni and Luan, you take the east. Luna?"

"I'm gonna go head north through that park. Maybe bro went up there somewhere."

"We all got each other's numbers?" Barry asked. Everyone nodded. It would be rather eclectic, but as long as they had Rita and Lynn Sr's numbers, they'd trace back through one another.

As they were about to depart, Pastor Adams and several attendees came out with multiple ponchos for the group.

"You folks gotta have some wisdom not ta get soaked to the marrow out there in this, right? Take these!" The Pastor called out to the group, himself now soaked ironically.

"Thank you so very much Pastor Adams, and I'm so sorry for my son-"

"It's alright Mrs. Loud. It's...Lincoln's a good kid, he's been through a lot, so it's only natural he question the lord's existence. He'll find his way back, physically and spiritually. Now...before ya depart, I just wanna assure you, Maurice back there?"

"That son-of-a-no good gun who hurt my child?" Lynn Sr barked.

"Yeah...he's not gonna press charges against Leni there, but...I don't know how you feel about charging him for assaulting your boy like that. I understand if ya wish, an-"

"I think bro should decide that Pastor," Luna replied, everyone else agreeing.

And so, everyone departed for their various spots to search.

"Dear lord, give that Loud kid the strength to pull through and see your love and kingdom," the Pastor mumbled.

A member next to the Pastor tapped his shoulder.

"Yes Clarke?"

"Pastor...why aren't these folks taking their cars out in this rain?"

"...that's a darn good question. People, much like the lord, act in mysterious ways. Come on, the wise man has enough sense to get out of the rain."

---

Luna flew through the water-soaked air around her, still getting drenched through even with the poncho on. She was running full blast, ignoring the aching harsh pain of slamming her feet hard in her boots, almost getting stuck in the sludgy grassy field. She cursed at not breaking these new pair in earlier. Luna almost lost her boots multiple times from how deep the muddy pools in the grass were getting. She cursed that as well.

Most of all, she cursed at herself for not being able to reel Lincoln's emotions, getting the gut-wrenching feeling she may have caused this all. Luna bitterly mumbled all the things she wanted to do; kick her own ass for singing that song with Sam, which may or may have not set off Lincoln, even when she was trying to be nice and heartfelt for him...kick that guy's ass for slapping Lincoln like that, she still burned with rage for that man.

"If Leni didn't manhandle that fuck, I would have wailed that twat a new asshole...fuckin dick...and why did bro have to go on that wonky wobbler? Is he that unhinged still from that old lady?"

Luna surveyed the park's surroundings as she briskly crossed the large grassy, muddy field, past the playground, trying to find a trace of Lincoln anywhere.

Nothing...before she looked down. Shoe marks in the muddy grass, the footprints angled sporadically but, overall in a north direction.

"Jesus wankin christ...Lincoln...just by your footprints I can see how fucked up ya must be feeling...fuck! Why did this whole thing gotta escalate the way it did? Fuck you universe!"

Luna power-walked along footprints, taking great care not to ruffle them with her huge new boots...that happen to have a leak in both of them.

"These have to be his footprints. They match his shoes he was in, and bro ain't exactly sporting dainty feet...they match his feet...THEY MATCH HIS FEET! IT'S GOTTA BE HIM...blimey, how the hell do I know so much about bro's feet?"

One heavy step later, nearly all her right boot sunk in a particular deep, grassy depression with mud seeping like concrete all around. It very nearly sloshed over the top edge of her boots by her ankles.

"Great...frickin cheap boots...should have known better not to get em on clearance! Now my feet and socks are gonna be soaked...guessing bro's are too since he's in those wack skimpy dress shoes."

Now on the other side of the muddy plain and a saturated sandy baseball diamond, boots now covered in a nearly uniform layer of chunky grass-containing mud, Luna crossed through the rusted, failing chain link fence curling at an angle; the chain link fence seemed to border the entire park.

She saw a sign for the name of the natural green space: the John C Lugar Jr. Playground, a little green space for kids. Since it was full blown raining, there was no way Lincoln would be hanging here, her trek yielded this fact...but at least Luna got the feel he came through here, unless someone else cut through with identical footprints...what would be the odds of that she thought?

She saw on the asphalt a multitude of trailing, snaking mud trails being weathered and carried off by the rippling small currents of the rainwater traveling on the street.

Luna followed this curious trail across the street. She was so locked in looking at the trail she forgot to look both ways, and was nearly hit by a shitty looking car with multiple paint jobs, dents and cracked windows that smelled like gas and cat litter. Luna luckily dived forwards, rolling her body onto the grassy sidewalk and getting her poncho, pants, boots...almost everything muddy, banging her head against the wooden pole for a street sign.

"OW! BLOODY PUSS SPEWING HELL! HEY ASSHOLE!?" Luna roared out in pain as the car kept on as though nothing happened, before it hit a huge puddle, Luna getting splashed by it.

Even with the poncho, Luna got soaked from the waist down.

"...COCK FLIPPING FUCKING BASTARDS!" Luna roared out, losing it as she throttled the street sign and kicked it violently, splitting it in half with one of her punches.

Vaporous body heat radiated off her form as her temperature matched her rage...before she gave a subtle sobbing choke...how she couldn't make Lincoln better, how messed up the situation was...almost like deja vu.

She wiped the angry tears off her face, gave herself a minor slap, wiped some of the mud and debris off herself, and took several deep breaths.

"Get it together Luna! Just...huuuuuhhhhhh...chill...chillax...think...huuuuuuhhhh...there," she mumbled, seeing even fresher muddy footprints washing away along the sidewalk, leading to a convenience store.

Luna power-walked straight over to the the large convenience store on the corner, the Farmer Zeek's Liquor store.

She walked in, rolled off her poncho, along with all the water droplets still on it, making a big wet spot on the floor.

"Yeesh...soaked to the bloody marrow mate," she passively mumbled to herself, cracking a small smile for how ineffective the poncho was.

She kicked her boots hard against the floor to try and rid any mud and dirt that would track in the store, and focused her eyes on the interior; a bullet-proof covering shrouded the counter, snack stands galore, and the vast majority of the store, wall-to-wall liquor, boos and, as a rock buddy called it once to Luna, happy juice.

She even saw the kind of vodka she chugged once in a contest over a Russian guitar she won.

"God...hehehe...thirteen shots of that ninety-five percent shitty stomach-punching crap...so worth spilling my guts out for three days, ehhehehe...crazy times at that rock concert."

While Luna mused at all the various liquors, the one she and her buds secretly chugged down one time, how she was both the only one to down the most and perpetually vomit it all out, she saw muddy footprints, perfectly matching Lincoln's shoes.

"Please...please let that have been bro."

She followed the tracks to a coffee station; nothing much was amiss beyond a couple little messes, but...there was one curious thing. All the creamers in the other flavors, pumpkin spice, chocolate, standard were fully packed, but...all the french vanilla was gone.

"...bro doesn't like coffee; last time he tried it he gobbed all over me, Luan, Lynn and Lori...unless...is he drinking the creamers?"

Luna briskly followed the tracks, the muddy footprints slowly becoming less pronounced and more like watermarks.

At the counter on the other side of the bullet proof casing was a middle aged black man watching a college football game, grumbling...then suddenly shouted at the TV, spooking Luna.

"COME ON! MAKE THE TACKLE! MAKE THE TACKLE! GOD DANG IT!...Oh...sheesh, sorry miss! What can I help you with?"

"No worries sir. You by chance see a white haired teen come in here? About yay-tall, front chipped tooth, freckles, soaked n muddy head ta toe, in a wanky get-up suit?"

"...ehhehe...your boyfriend I presume?" The man responded with a little smirk, Luna frowning while blushing...she wished she could say yes, but she knew she couldn't.

"...my bro actually..."

"...well this is frickin awkward...pretend I didn't say that sweetie, and yeah, he came in here. Made a big ole puddle by the entrance just like ya. Came in asking if we had a coffee section."

"Did he buy some sir?"

"Nah, he did try to buy a box of that stupid French vanilla creamer from me. No one ever uses the damn stuff, so I told him, buy one of them slurpie jugs for a few bucks, and I'll give him the whole box for free...shitty creamer anyways."

"...holy crud, he took the whole box?" Luna asked, "there must be like-"

"Enough to fill the whole slurpie jug. No skin off my bones...AH COME ON! MAKE THAT DAMN TACKLE!" He yelled back at the televised college football game blaring in the background.

"Ya know where he went sir?"

"Well...he looked a little jacked, all weirded out and stuff. Thought he was a crackhead the way he was moving around, but...he seemed more spooked then anything, so I cut him a break. I recall he bought a couple extra things too...let's see...some of them tasty lindor white chocolate truffles there...a cinnamon cream bun roll, and an organic coconut energy bar. Kid's got a hell of a sweet tooth for his mood. Sugar rush will probably help him, but, I dunno, I'm more into this game on...OH, YOU CALL THAT A TACKLE REF? COME ON!"

"Thank you sir...here," Luna said, pulling out five bucks and slipping it under the glass, "sorry for me and my bro's mess and screwin with your SuperBowl time."

"Ah sweetie, I don't need that. I ain't takin that unless ya buy something."

"...okay...lemme get some of them truffles then."

Three minutes later...

Luna departed from the liquor store, poncho back on with a huge pocket of those truffles, eating one to try and jive her spirits up.

"Come on bro...give me a sign...where the fuck ya go buddy?"

As unlikely as it seemed, Luna found a sign.

Across the street, in an abandoned, tattered white building next to a small local hardware store, the dilapidated 2nd Chance Donation Center, she saw a form with white hair maneuvering past the rustic pole holding the sign.

"...bro."

---

Sam and Barry had searched the area close to the KFC, and were now at the McDonalds across the street, Sam going so far as to even crawl inside the inner-tube playground to be absolutely sure Lincoln wasn't hiding in there, getting several surprised looks from parents with their toddler children at the fast food joint.

Nothing.

This side northwest of the church didn't yield them anything...but Barry did snap a quick picture of Sam crawling around the inner tubes calling out Lincoln and sent it to her...getting a flustered, embarrassed Sam to laugh at herself, even if the situation wasn't a laughing matter.

Barry tried to relieve some of the tension of the situation. He was kicking himself for letting Lincoln's sister sing that song. Admittedly it rattled him as well, but, he knew his Mary and granddaughter Chivonn loved that song so much, and even if his wife died to that song, it still meant the world to her, to him and his family.

"Lord...please...give us strength to find that boy and make him be right again. He's in so much pain," Barry silently prayed to himself, looking at the heavy rains pouring down. He took a seat in the playground seating booths to get a breather. He was not used to this amount of moving, not like his old days.

Sam was getting her shoes back on from crawling out of the inner tube slide; her hair became extremely static-laden and had several strands hovering above their normal height.

Barry chuckled, sneaked another quick pic, and showed it to her.

"Ha ha ha...at least I can still sorta crawl in these things...oww...my knees."

"Are you okay there? Need a break? We can head to the church if you-"

"Nah, I'm cool...yeesh...where did that kid head off too."

"I dunno...I hope the others have more luck. He's...in a very dark place Sam. He needs all the understandin and love we can give him," Barry mused, before he whispered, "...you would have wanted that Mary sweetie-bell."

"What was that Barry?"

"Ah, nothin child. Say...you and that Luna Loud on good terms?"

Sam suddenly froze as she was fiddling with a stretched pink and light blue sock over her toes.

"Oh...that a tender topic? Never mind...just...sorta saw you two give...pretty awkward and...interesting looks at each other."

Sam suddenly glowed like a red balloon.

"...not my place to judge on who and what ya kids do...I just hope you both used protection."

"BARRY!?"

"Hehehe...sorry child. Couldn't resist. But, that's the kind of tension ya see in folks who've had bad break-ups."

Sam looked to the ground with a guilty expression.

"I...Luna and I do sorta...well...Barry? Can I tell ya a secret? You can't tell anyone...I mean, anyone. I've never told this to anyone besides a few of my best...former best friends."

"...I'm an old black man sweetie. Why would I wanna tell ya secrets. Ain't my business to do that."

"Okay...yeesh...huuuhhh...Luna...Luna and me...we were a-"

"Oh, hold up a moment Sam...just got a few texts from...Mr. and Mrs. Loud...nothing on their end. Nothing from Luan or Leni Loud...Luna hasn't texted back anything...goodness, where could a teen like that boy run off to? We must have over-searched the boundaries. Ah...looks like Pastor Adams is asking if we would permit the rest of the service to continue. You wanna go back and finish the organ stuff, or keep searching for that boy? I'm gonna let him continue the service without us. He'll give me some private time afterwords."

"I'd rather help Luna find her bro. She could use the help, even if we're just finding places he ain't at. At least that narrows down where he could be."

"Ah...say no more...and I think I'll let the Pastor finish this one up. He owes me a favor anyway, so I can have a more private one after this if...if God-willing, Lincoln wants private resolution."

"...so...do ya wanna know Barry?"

"Oh, lordie, go ahead child!"

"Yeah...so...me and Luna...a while ago...we were a thing once...and I ruined it all to heck..."

---

Down along the James Couzens Freeway, Rita and Lynn Sr wised up while everyone went on their venture and took Vanzilla, covering the roads and bridges west of the church across the major interstate.

Nothing.

With the radio turned off, both concerned parents had their wits on full blast, Rita with the window down calling out for Lincoln as Lynn Sr navigated the raining hazardous road conditions, going steady and searching in his few moments taking his eyes off the road.

"Should we have picked up the kids and Barry honey? They're gonna get so soaked out there from this," Lynn Sr gurgled, coughing from a burst of gas-tasting air shooting out from the side vents inside.

"They'll be fine Lynn...I'm more worried about Lincoln gallivanting in this neighborhood in the emotional state he's in."

"I know...they're tough...Rita?"

"Yeah?"

"Where'd we go wrong? Did we not do something right with Lincoln? Did we we screw up our only boy somehow? I should have been tougher on him...DAMN IT! I knew I should have been tougher on him, so he wouldn't turn out like me and be so-"

"LYNN! Lynn, sweetie...Lynn...Lincoln's just a very...he's...he has some very deep issues we need to help him with."

"Rita...he just told God to bugger off in a church..." Lynn Sr said with a serious, deadpan tone.

"I know, I know...goodness, I thought we was in pain but getting better, but...never in this kind of pain. I just want my baby back."

"Me too hun...I've been thinking...Lincoln's done this twice honey. This is a regular issue, running off like this. The first time, that was the girl's fault. The second...well, let's not open up fresh wounds...or the wounds I wanna unload on that son of a...point being is...you think we should take him to that therapist the McBrides use to use for Clyde?"

"I...if that'll help Lincoln, I'll do anything Lynn. I don't want my boy in pain anymore. He's seen things he should have never, ever seen...I don't want my boy traumatized anymore," Rita sobbed in her hands, Lynn Sr throwing his arm out and pulling her in to embrace her, kissing her forehead and holding her close.

"We'll find our boy Rita...we'll help him, whatever it takes," Lynn Sr softly whispered as he turned back onto the bridge heading back to the church.

---

Luan and Other Leni were sweeping over the Sickle Cell Disease Association building, around the parking lot, in hopes that Linc fled southeastward of the church.

So far...nothing.

"This is just great, frickin terrific! I should have known better!" Luan roared at herself as she looked over some bushes. She fell over the hedge and slammed into a tree, causing it to shake and splatter all the raindrops on the branches and leaves right on her.

"...typical, mother nature squirting on me when I don't want it...ehehhe...get it Other Leni?" Luan mumbled in a half angry, half comical tone. Other Leni loomed over the hedge and pulled Luan up. It nearly humbled how powerful and grand she looked, even if she was in a poncho...though it looked like she didn't care about the weather at all.

"I get it...here," Other Leni said cooly, putting Luan back on her feet. Luan wiggled her toes in her shoes.

"Dang it...already soaked and wet...and these stupid shoes are so so uncomfortable!" Luan growled, slamming her foot into that same tree, wincing at the pain and hopping away from it.

"Luan? Why do you have such prevalent foot pain?" Other Leni asked matter-of-factly.

"...probably cause these stupid things," Luan said, pointing to her breasts, "I get some occasional shoulder and back pain from them, so...I'm guessing the extra weight and way it's distributed on my body makes me hover on my toes or the balls of my feet...it frickin sucks, count your blessings."

"I guess...here, we got a moment," Other Leni said lowly, pulling Luan to an entrance covered by a tarp, concealing them from the outside world.

"Other Leni?"

"Hold still, this will help you...I hope," Other Leni said with a large huff, pulling Luan's shoes off, seeing her socks soaked, pulling them off too. Other Leni started to massage Luan's feet.

"WHOA...wow...Other Leni...uhhuhuhhuh...that actually feels really...really...did you learn this from Lincoln?"

"Leni took him to those massage places at the mall, remember? He learned a bunch from watching and trying out on me...eh ehm...Leni...so I sorta secretly watched and made sure I knew a few things myself if I ever came out...stupid, I know. Just pressure points and such...Lincy is better though, by a mile," Other Leni said with an awkward smile.

"..ma...maybe...but...you're so nice Other Leni...thank you...I'm not feeling so much pain," Luan said, feeling goosebumps and her skin electrify from Other Leni's fingers gyrating and rubbing deep. Luan couldn't help but blush...Other Leni followed with a blush as well.

"...stop blushing Luan. I can't help it if this seems sensual. I'm just trying to make you feel better."

"You're helping quite a bit Other Leni...but I think weUUHUHUUHhhuuuuuuuuuuu...god...did my foot just pop?"

"Yeah. You got some serious stress in your feet Luan."

"...Other Leni?"

"Yeah Luan?"

"I'm sorry for jumping you like that back there...in the church."

"It's okay Luan."

"I...I just care about you, ya know?"

"I know you mean Leni," Other Leni chuckled.

"That...and I care about you too. I don't want to see you getting into trouble for what you are, and you're a lot nicer than you let on."

"...I think your opinion is biased since we're using each other as sisters-with-benefits."

"Well...it's messed up, I admit, but...I know you care so much for us, and you wouldn't be doing this unless you cared, so...thank you for caring Other Leni...and again, sorry for jumping you."

Other Leni suddenly cracked Luan's other foot, getting a groan and whimper from Luan. Luan wiggled both her feet hard like jello, enjoying the wanky wiggly tingling sensation of relief they had now.

Other Leni rose up and walked over to Luan, giving her a tight hug. Luan returned the gesture and hugged her tight...before wincing in pain.

"Luan?"

"It's nothing...I'm good."

"Luan...your breasts..." Other Leni said, looking over Luan's huge chest.

"These...stupid things...everytime there's stress around me they engorge and balloon...you two are lucky...what I'd give to be like Lynn right now," Luan sighed, awkwardly feeling the tops of her breasts.

"...you're right. Leni and I lucked out; those are totes too big."

"Exactly, since these things utterly boob their way and milk all the hell possible for my life, ehheehehe, get it?"

"Heehehe...yeah...slip your socks and shoes on...I'm gonna take care of these as well."

Luan just froze, as Other Leni unbuttoned Luan's blouse under her poncho.

"Are...you about to-"

"Yeah," Other Leni said, raising Luan's poncho and blouse shirts up, putting her head under the fabrics, and began massaging Luan's breasts.

"...you might give Lincoln a run for his money Other Leni. No way would he ever touch these. Hehehheeh..."

"Who knows...ehehehe...I count my blessings I get a go at these monsters...eheheh...all I know is that I gotta keep you, Lincy and the family safe. Leni lets me...I mean...I screwed up big time and lost control, but...I hope if I-"

Other Leni paused.

Luan saw some tears rolling down her face...it looked as though Other Leni had for the first time, been humbled by a situation, and was slowly losing her cool.

"Th...thank you for the massage Other Leni...my boobs feel better and-"

"Hold up...I need to...relieve the pressure."

Other Leni suddenly firmly squeezed and gyrated Luan's breasts, causing Luan to quiver from the sporadic jets of breast milk shooting out like water out of a fire hose. Other Leni let a stray stream strike her face dead-on, tongue stuck out.

"Hmmm...coconut. How it tastes like that is beyond me Luan."

"It's a mystery that might get de-husked one day, ahhhhhahha, get it?"

"You really should check with Lisa about this Luan. Among all the things happening to us, this is one of the more not-normal things. You're not pregnant, and your breasts are already huge...this extra lactation happening in there isn't helping you, but...Lisa might be able to know how you're making so much milk...but I got a gut feeling I know the why, and you should be careful of yielding that info."

"...no use crying over breast milk I lactate or you tasted, ehhehe...but...uhuhuhhhuhu...that feels better, so much better. And I have...considered going to Lisa about it. I...I just wanna make sure she won't try and do any funny experiments on me," Luan mumbled half-coherently, masking the extra tidbit of activity she had with Lisa days before...about yielding her monsterous deviant problems and unintentionally spilling the beans about the affairs in her mind, Lincoln and Luna's, Leni's, her own ever-developing and twisted sexuality...no way in hell did she want Other Leni knowing Lisa was exposed to this, and may or may not have used the memory eraser, or acquisitioner, or whatever Lisa called it, to sap that experience out of her head.

"I can get that, she's smart, but sneaky as hell in her subtle ability to skirt the line of truth and manipulate the situation to her liking. Oh...on the massaging, I try," Other Leni said, booping Luan on her delicate nose, getting a little giggle from Luan. Luan strained her socks out as much water as possible and slipped them back on, shaking her shoes and pressing her thumbs inside to push out what water could be extracted.

"They're gonna be super pruned after the day is over, I just know it...yuck, but at least it's not like before."

"You could ask Lincy for a massage," Other Leni said with a wink. Luan chuckled.

"What about you Other Leni? Are your feet okay?"

"Mine are fine, see?" Other Leni said, showing Luan the shoes she wore, more like pseudo boots, "and if anything Luan, your feet and boobs need the most attention out of the two of us."

Luan blushed hard as Other Leni approached her, her expression strong, firm yet yielding and gentle. Luan felt a strange sense of ease in Other Leni's powerful presence...it was almost akin to how she felt with Lincoln.

"But enough about me Other Leni. We gotta get back to looking for Li...whoa, hold up," Luan mumbled, pulling her cell out.

It was Luna.

"Other Leni...she found him!"

---

Luna flew around the rustic pole of the donation center, blowing through full speed to see where Lincoln went. A little waterfall of dirty slush that rolled off the roof onto her splashed in her face; she spat the rusty watery contaminants and wiped her face, dead-set on not letting anything stand in her way, even a little dirty roof water.

She looked around frantically, wiping the icky rain and roof water off her face, seeing if any of the glass windows were bust open along the side. None were.

She then focused on the back wall complex of these buildings. Luna saw some crack heads under the canopy doing drugs, and what appeared to be the head getting sexual favors from one of them.

"...that's just wrong dude," Luna mumbled, before she heard the familiar "oof" sounds, like someone was pushing around someone she new back there with those druggies.

"...dude?" Luna gently called out.

"Come on kid! Give it here, ya got all those treats, ya can hook us up, can't ya?"

"I already told you! I don't have any money! Leave me alone!" A voice struggled to say, defiant yet sounding choked up still.

It punched Luna right in the gut.

"Lincoln..."

She felt her whole mood vibrate with the coming onslaught of protective rage, and then she saw it; his little tuft of white hair, cow lick and all even in the rain now sticking out from the corner of a pile of trash.

Luna flipped into brawl mode.

She ran over to the druggies messing with Lincoln, grabbed one by the head and slammed her into the side of the large green metal trash container with gang graffiti all over.

"What the fuck?" The other druggie said, pushing Lincoln into the pile of loose trash and a stack of wooden pallets as he made for Luna. Luna just shifted her weight, let the druggie throw several ham-handed punches, and then grappled the druggie down to the ground, pinning him.

He suddenly snuck a knife out and tried stabbing Luna in her stomach, Luna almost getting stabbed were it not just a few random inches that spared her. She rocketed off the man, flying backwards into the same stack of wooden pallets.

"FUCK OFF DRUGGIE! LEAVE MY BRO ALONE!"

"You and that little white haired cunt are gonna give me all your money now!"

"Says who ya piece of shit!?" Luna retorted angrily.

"This," the druggie said, licking his lips around the knife, before slowly walking over to Luna.

"Oh shit...this is not good," Luna quivered, feeling scared not just for herself, but for Lincoln.

She turned her head for a moment; Lincoln wasn't there.

"...shit...where did he go?" Luna mouthed, hoping another druggie didn't take him.

"MONEY! NOW!"

Then suddenly the druggie let out a piercing screech, before falling forwards in pain, covering his head.

To Luna's shock, Lincoln snuck around and was now beating him with a piece of pipe he found...he was slamming the pipe onto the man's head without mercy, then his body, then everywhere at blood curdling intensity.

Luna...was terrified to see this side of Lincoln again. He had a manic trance, a bloodlust and no-mercy look she couldn't believe her little brother could host.

"Dude...bro...Lincoln, he's done," Luna said with reserve and fear, Lincoln still beating the man non-stop. The woman Luna slammed into the trash container headed towards Lincoln clumsily, before Luna took her by the hair and slammed her face-first again into another trash container.

"LINCOLN! PLEASE! YOU'RE NOT A KILLER!" Luna cried out while paradoxically smashing the female druggie down.

Lincoln...suddenly stopped. He registered her voice, and that somehow quelled the violent monstrosity he found himself as.

Luna saw it in his eyes...angry tears...bloodlust tears, the pipe still high up in the air, ready to strike the druggie man with bottled-up teenage angst, hurt and rage.

Lincoln just kicked the knife out of the druggie's hand. It looked like Lincoln broke his hand with that kick.

"...go," Lincoln quietly said. The druggie stammered up, looking like he was about to take a sucker punch shot at Lincoln, who was still locked in his angry crying stance.

Luna power-walked right between them, holding her balled fists up, ready to continue punching the hell out of him if he even flinched in Lincoln's direction.

"You began it dude. Fuck with us again...I'm gonna finish you off. NOW BOLLOCKS OFF YOU CRACK SMOKING TWAT!" Luna roared, grabbing the knife from the ground and ready to do what was necessary to keep her brother safe...no matter what.

That powerful roar from Luna in combo with her balled fists and...rather frightening rage seemed to be enough to make him high-tail it out of there, pulling the woozy druggie woman along with him, a trail of blood from their noses and faces dribbling down into the rainy asphalt below.

Luna and Lincoln still saw the other druggie and random person still banging behind the other dumpster like nothing ever happened, totally oblivious, drugged out and numb to the situation and rain at hand. It looked like two guys, and the one doing the banging earlier was now being banged, in a raunchy flip-flop action under the dumpster lid pulled back.

"...frickin gross dude. Linc? You okay?"

"I...yeah...thank you Luna," Lincoln choked, trying to make his voice low, its emotional timber blowing full blast out.

"Nah, thank you amigo. If it wasn't for your quick thinking, I could have been stabbed to dea-"

"Don't...don't say that word...please..." Lincoln begged in a whimper. Luna went silent, trying to console him with an approaching arm, before Lincoln fervently walked to a little back corner on the ground. His bag from the liquor store on the ground; he picked it up and gripped in his hand tight.

"Man...it's friggin wet out here dude...that corner's wet as well mate. Let's get a place that's dry."

Luna looked at the back door of the 2nd Chance Donation Center. It was locked, but the lock was worn down and rusty.

Luna suddenly kicked at the lock, busting it and the side corner door down. Lincoln saw and went wide-eyed.

"Whoa...she's got strong legs and thighs..."he thought passingly with a flushed face and tears down his cheeks.

Luna pulled the door off the worn hinges and motioned for Lincoln to come inside.

"Come on bro. We need to rap, and I don't think singin in the rain's gonna help any, especially with that fucked up lil show right there," Luna said, nodding her head over to the lewd sights in the trash.

Lincoln sheepishly entered the abandoned structure. Luna put up the door haphazardly so it looked like it was still closed. He followed Luna inside to a source of light near a blocked out window and some worn down bean bag chairs, covered in dust.

She shook them a bit, brushing off a bit of the dirt and dust, motioning for Lincoln to take a load off his presumably shaky body, legs and feet.

She looked him over; utterly and completely soaked head to toe in water, his shoes making a squishy, muddy clap against the floor.

Luna and Lincoln quickly surveyed one another for injuries. Luckily none had any on them, extreme fortune giving them a lucky break from the drugged-out, hard up folk in the area.

Now the only issue was the vociferous emotional state of mind Lincoln appeared to be in, and he still had that ruptured look about him, even after cooling off in awkward breaths, a silence still echoing between both of them.

Lincoln opened his baggie of items, pouring out the coconut bar, cinnamon bun, lindor white chocolate truffles into his lap, then pulled out a cartoonishly large white and red Slurpee jug, opening the lid and placing it to the side, then shook his bag with an inquisitive look.

He grabbed the box of French vanilla creamers, plopped the other items to his side gingerly and began opening up each little container of the creamer methodically, one by one, emptying the minuscule shots of sweet white cream into the jug.

"So...dude...you...you are okay, right? From those blokes back there? You're not hurt at all?"

"I'm fine...they just wanted my baggie and money on me, which I spent on this crud," Lincoln said quietly, as though each opening of the small containers was a tiny shock of therapeutic relief to his system.

A few silent minutes passed, Luna just messing with her wet poncho, pulling it off and shaking her body off like a dog, while Lincoln, still soaked, almost uncaring to his saturated situation, still popped open those containers.

He was already down half the box, tossing the empty ones back in the baggie.

"Dude...ya...ya like those creamers a bunch, don't ya. Guess they rock your taste buds and give'em a jolly good time?"

"They calm my nerves...it's a pretty good substitute to one of my more...messed of likings."

"Oh...hehe...okay bro...what's that per chance?"

"...eh ehm...you," Lincoln coughed with a minor blush, nodding his head over to Luna's groin momentarily.

"...ooooooooh...ehhehe...thank's a bunch Lincoln. You're actually imaging all them french vanilla creamers are...my ooze?"

"...I know I'm sorta fucked up...sorry...I'm just...really messed up right now Luna, and the idea of drinking your pleasure...it calms me down," Lincoln said with a sigh, leaning his head down in shame as he popped open the last creamer into the Slurpee jug. He tossed the last empty container into the baggie, rolled that up, put the lid on, and took one ginormous gulp of the creamer drink. Bits of the creamer dribbled down Lincoln's face...it pained Luna to be so turned on by imaging that liquid as her ejaculate...but her horniess would have to wait.

"So...dude? Ya wanna talk about what just happened?"

"I...I dunno...I just don't wanna feel anymore Luna...it hurts...way too much," Lincoln whimpered, taking another swig of the drink, before unwrapping several of the lindor white chocolate truffles into his mouth, chewing the candy with a mouth full of the creamer in combination.

"Do you mind if I let the fam know you're okay? They're searching out there for ya bro, and...you sorta lost your cell on the way out of there."

Lincoln looked up, padding his pockets on his soaked dress pants.

"...dang it."

"It's cool. We found it...so...can I tell them?"

"...yeah, I don't want them in this weather...it sucks out here."

"Cool. I'll let them know where we are and have them pick u-"

"Wait...can...can ya just tell them I'm okay and safe with you? I want some time to think on this...if you don't mind Luna."

"Sure bro," Luna chirped with a smile as she began texting everyone she found Lincoln and was safe, just wanting some time to think and be by himself...though she did happen to tell Luan in secret code Lincoln had donated himself...hopefully in Luna's mind enough time to buy them some one-on-one talking, and for Luan and Leni to pop over. She didn't know why, but she wanted them over first before anyone, even their parents.

"Well...mom and dad ain't too happy, and their hounding me to tell them where we are, but...I got your back bro."

"Thank you Luna...Luna...I love you...I, I tell you that, right?"

"Of course ya do bro, all the time...now do you mean that in the usual sense, or like in our private little-"

"Like this," Lincoln said with some sensual gruffness, leaping up and pressing his body into Luna's, sloppily kissing Luna's lips with his creamer-covered lips.

Luna just took it, finding it cute how Lincoln was trying to be a bit forceful, even though she could feel he wasn't totally into the lusting aspect, just the connection the kissed represented.

Lincoln pulled off, Luna giving a smile.

"...what?"

"Ya sure are kinky bro, pretending that you're drinking my cum and making out with it all over your mouth...guess I taste pretty good, but dude," Luna said, licking the bits and dribbles of Lincoln's saliva and creamer on her lips, "we seriously need to talk about what went down back there."

Lincoln sighed heavily, stood with his head hanging down, breathing a little too hard.

"I know it sucks...I'm not mad or anything, just concerned, scared...I'm scared for ya bro. I love ya too much, and it hurts so bad to see you hurting like this."

"...you must think I'm a real asshole for the way I talked about God though...I'd totally understand and-"

"Never said that bro, and I sorta agree with ya. I mean...I've been trying to keep my head in the sand about all the bullshit and suffering from these tornadoes, but that little headline ya brought up? Dude...come on, that's just fucking evil. Who lets babies fucking drown in a river? As far as I'm concerned...fuck God or whatever is in charge, if there's even one up there."

"That's the messed up thing Luna...I wanna believe in something good, I wanna believe in God, or something out there I know that will take care of us and love us, especially my friends and family, and you..."

"...and?" Luna asked on edge.

"...but after the messed up stuff I've seen, just...how utterly callous the world can seem to good people...people who didn't deserve to die? Babies? Fucking babies Luna? Fifteen drowning in a van to death in a river from tornadoes throwing the damn vehicle? I just don't...maybe there is a God, maybe there isn't, I dunno...he's making it pretty fucking hard to wanna believe in him."

"I know dude, ya don't gotta tell me. It's cool, and...I know the others might be more inclined and religious, but I got your back...lil commie atheist," Luna joked with a slight punch to Lincoln's shoulder.

"Ha ha ha, you're one to talk ya satanic rock-loving infidel," Lincoln retorted back, giving a low smile, but...his mood still snapping back to that morose zone.

"But...dude, I take it God ain't the only thing you're having some problems with. I'm pretty sure I royally fucked up back there at the church when I...sang that song."

"...it...admittedly it was a beautiful, awesome song and show Luna, I really appreciate that, it's just that song has so much baggage for me."

"And I'm a fuckin idiot for not thinking it out; ya sang that to...her, before she...yeah...I'm so sorry Lincoln, I really am," Luna said with a watery tone, wiping a few tears off her face before she got up and embraced Lincoln in a tight hug.

"You didn't mean it Luna, and I gotta admit, you and Sam were awesome together up there. I can see why...oh...eheheh...yeah..."

"Yeah what bro? You know Sam?" Luna asked with some alarm. It seemed like these private moments with Lincoln were going to be all about revealing secrets and issues...Sam being Luna's second biggest secret after another.

"Uhmmm...she seems nice, so I can see why...certain things happened with...ehehhe...oh boy...I think I'll bring that up later rocker girl."

"Oh shit...what does bro know about Sam," Luna dreaded mentally while putting on a comforting smile, pretending it wasn't a big deal.

"But, yeah...the song caused certain things in my head to push me...a lot...I didn't even know they would be bringing her casket out in front of everyone like that."

"...Mary's, ya mean bro?"

"...yeah. I...I wasn't strong enough to hold it together...the song, the casket, seeing Mary like that...it fucked me up Luna, badly, and I caused a horrific shit show cause of my God-crises crap."

"But Lincoln? You shouldn't feel bad for all that. So what if you lost it, anyone with the trauma you've been through would've done the same. It's okay to question God. It's okay to not feel easy around a woman ya saw die before your eyes...ooo...ouch, sorry about bringing that up."

"It's okay...it's a fact I gotta face head on anyway...Mary died before my eyes...while I was up there on stage, I saw her body...and my mind played a horrible hallucination.. lil imagination, whatever it is...like she was staring back and talking to me, with blood spurting out of her mouth all over."

"...holy fuck dude..."

"That's not the worst...Mary's the tip Luna, but...after that guy bitch-slapped the hell out of me-"

"And you're gonna love what happened next dude, trust me, but, go on," Luna interjected.

"Yeah...but...yeah, seeing Mary die was one thing, but...when I got out in the rainstorm out there, I tripped in the parking lot, landed face-first in a stupid oily puddle, probably where I lost my cellphone...and my mind snapped back to seeing ya drown..."

"...oh..." Luna cooed with fear.

"I...I saw you...sinking...I tried and tried...and I couldn't reach you...and then...I dunno, it was like another weird mental picture that formed...I was trying to revive you...I..."

Lincoln shuddered, pulling his arms to his chest, curling his knees close, as Luna held him tighter for support. She felt him shaking like a small scared child.

"I still have nightmares about it Luna...seeing your eyes so lifeless...so...d...dead.."

"Bro..."

Lincoln curled his head into his knees. Luna saw the side of his face with the hand print still as red as ever, but it didn't seem to even phase him; all the pain Lincoln felt, all the survivor's guilt, the trauma pushed deep down in him, it was all coming to a head now from his mind.

And it was looking as though, on the surface, Luna's near drowning was the catalyst in all this, and Luna was suspecting now, the most traumatic thing to happen to him.

"Dude...I'm here still, you saved my life man. I can never-"

"I know...I know, it doesn't make fucking sense Luna, but I still see it...your eyes...your body, no life...I tried and I tried, and nothing worked," Lincoln quietly cried out in somewhat coherent sobs.

Luna caressed his neck and hair with her fingers, stroking along spots she knew Lincoln loved rubbed and pet when they cuddled. She pulled Lincoln into her waist and held him close.

He pulled his head out of his knees, showing now his teary-eyed face, eyes red, his face partly flushed; he looked so utterly lost, and Luna damn well made sure she would be his rock, beyond just being a rocker.

"Luna...can...can I just look into your eyes please? Just for a-"

"You can look into my eyes all day bro," Luna warmly said as she rested her forehead on his, their eyes gluing open on each other.

Lincoln basked in what he considered the majesty of Luna's life in her eyes, trying so hard to negate those memories of seeing them once virtually deceased.

"It's still hard Luna. I never told ya honestly, but...every night, I wake up in cold sweats, trying to revive you...if ya didn't splurge out all that water in the last moment like that when I hugged ya tightly...I...I don't even care, I would have wanted to be with you."

"...oh shit...yeah...we sorta buried that little deal," Luna huffed in a sigh, wishing to forget how each was ready to take their life when they thought the other was killed or dead.

"We...we certainly did go full blast on that mark, didn't we," Luna sheepishly chuckled, trying to break the tension...it only made it worse.

"I'm so sorry Luna. I thought I could deal with these things on my own, but...fuck...FUCK! Seeing Mary die, the tornadoes...finding out Leni catapulting herself into the tornado, jesus...but the worst thing of all though was seeing you dead Luna. I...more than anything, that still haunts me the most I think."

"Look...bro...a lot of bad things happened that day...a lot of angst and crap in the prior days too, heavens knows...but I'm here, I got ya bro, just like ya got me with my fear of drowning."

Luna pulled Lincoln in as he sniveled and cried, but...had a small recovering smile on his face.

"I know we can't really guarantee that either one of us will be there always forever with one another. Life is bullshit and fucked like that, but...we can still rock on together with the time we got, can't we?"

"Yeah...we can Luna."

"Which is why...I...if anything happened to me dude, I don't want you doing something stupid like back on that ferry, even if your heart was in the right place."

"Then...you gotta promise me the same thing Luna, okay?"

Luna took a few deep breaths while Lincoln laid against her chest, feeling her heart beat.

"...promise dude."

"For real rocker girl?"

"For real, ya sappy white-haired angel cake," Luna snickered out, rubbing Lincoln's hair in a noogey, Lincoln laughing and trying to brush her hand away playfully.

"But for real Lincoln. We gotta keep this promise; if anything happens to either of us, we gotta move on. It'll suck cosmic dick and be one of the bloody hardest things we ever gotta do, which is why it shouldn't be the most important thing for us. We...what we got, what we're doin I guess, that's the most important thing. Here, and now, know what I'm tryin to say dude?"

"Yeah...I get it Luna...but, full disclosure...if there is a God and heaven...I mean, at the time I didn't really care, I was willing to risk it and hope I could meet ya on the other side...I still don't regret it...even if we spend eternity in hell for what we're doin-"

"I know dude, I mean, I was ready to throw myself in that frickin twister mate. I thought it got you when I heard ya went out there...why did you go out there?"

"They needed help, and it was children in a bus smashed around the corner, so...I just-"

"I see dude...even when the world's shittin on ya, you're still the type to try and help wherever ya can. One of the reasons why I love you so much," Luna said, nuzzling her nose into his.

Lincoln smiled as he pulled Luna in for a deep kiss.

"I love you too Luna."

"BUT! And this is important amigo! We can't go crazy or nutso...either of us, know what I mean dude? I mean it."

"Yeah...it blows, but I get it," Lincoln replied, cracking his neck and fingers. Luna held them, trying to warm them up from how cold they felt.

"But it's awful sweet of you to be willing to throw it all away for me, I'll admit that," Luna said with a little chuckle, giving Lincoln a noogie, "just, ya know, limit it to that one time, okay?"

"Okay...and you know everything you're making me promise applies to you too Luna, right? Otherwise, you're a giant hypocrite, ahaahah."

"Well aware bro, just...gonna be a bit harder if the boot's on the other foot, since I'm the older one."

"Oh? How so?"

"Huhhh...well...maybe it is, maybe it isn't something you could make equal, in terms of how ya deal with something like that in my case. I mean...loosing you bro? I've known you since you were a wee lil rockin larva...it's like...in a fucked up way, it's sorta like losing a kid. We all helped raise ya dude, me, Lori, Leni, Luan, Lynn, but...maybe I'm just rambling on now, and-"

"But like you said Luna, I get it...I guess. I'm sorta the one ya gelled to the most, and raising me since I was a baby must have put a very, very powerful motherly sort-of imprint on me. Is that right?"

"YEAH! That's it...dang that's bloody messed up, but, I guess that's why I'm sorta hell bent on the idea that I should be the one to take the bullet, since I was first, and you later" Luna sighed.

"Well...it doesn't bother me, though I got my own protective mindset with you and the others cause...well, I'm your brother, even if I'm younger. But I get your mindset Luna, and your reasons."

"You mean besides our dirty little forbidden reason that's a secret, ehehehe," Luna chuckled, before Lincoln grabbed her hand and held it tight.

"Look Luna, we may be brother and sister doing this, and you got four years on me, but there is far more fucked up shit out there," Lincoln said with a tinge of confidence.

"Oh really? Like what bro? What's worse than us?"

"...a nine year old kid marrying a sixty-three year old woman for example."

"...bullshit bruh."

"Nope, honest truth Luna."

"...tell me that's not a fucking thing dude..."

"It is...in Somalia. I looked it up."

"...holy shit. Is that like, cultural or something dude?"

"I don't know, but...we may got the incest deal, and you may be an adult, but...four years? That woman has fifty-three years on that kid, not to mention that orange guy in office has like over twenty years on his wife. In the grand scheme of things, we're not that far apart in age. We're really close."

"...Well...I mean, if I was twenty-two and you eighteen...besides the fact we're siblings, it wouldn't be so utterly royally screwed up, eheheh."

"Exactly, so...all things being equal Luna, we're not the most messed up pairing...I mean...it's not exactly natural or typical, but...I dunno, I think I'm rambling and trying to imply we're good."

"Not to mention how unusually mature you are dude...except you don't got a lick of body hair anywhere, ehehehehe," Luna chuckled, Lincoln blowing his cheeks out.

"Thanks for reminding me big-butt."

"Anytime big-dick," Luna snickered as Lincoln huffed his cheeks momentarily, before lying against her chest, getting lost in her body's natural sound and rhythm, even if her whole body was soaked; his was too.

"We sure got soaked, didn't we dude."

"Yeah...sorry about that again Luna."

"It's no big deal, but you owe me new socks; these are flippin melted and worn down, and ya owe me a deep massage for me sore feet," Luna laughed, Lincoln nodding that he would.

"I'm soaked head-to-toe too...why do I always run off in the middle of the worst imaginable weather possible? It seems like a cliché thing for me."

"I dunno dude, cause if was written that way?"

"What?"

"Hhahaaa, nothing bro, hahaah, just a little metaphysical joke."

"Hehhe, I gues...you know, you make some wicked awesome songs, right Luna?"

"I try to pump out some awesome tunes."

"But you have one song that's one of my personal favorites, the best song you've ever done."

"Huuuhh...is it the one I did to scare off those bully-twats with the family from a few Halloweens ago? You got Tricked?"

"Nope."

"Mr. Grouse's Christmas song?"

"Not quite."

"Best dang brother anywhere around? It's gotta be that one, ahhahah!"

"I should love that one the most for egotistical reasons, ahahha, but, uh uh."

"...the one at the Cobo Center where I ripped my pants onstage?"

"...that was a friggin awesome concert song, but no."

"Damn dude...I've done a ton of songs over the years mate...I give up. Which one?"

"This one," Lincoln said with a gentle, husky voice, placing a hand on her heart.

"Huh? I ain't catchin what you're tossin bro."

"This right here...this is personally, my favorite beat you've ever made, ever."

"...oh my god that is the corniest thing you've ever said to me dude, and you've laughed so hard cream corn shot out your mouth and nose that one time, aHAHAAHHAHA!" Luna laughed, Lincoln rolling his eyes from the memory.

"But, that's uber sweet and stellar to drop on your girl; lovin her natural rhythm and beat...it's so sweet, like that french vanilla creamer you downed like rapid-fire vodka shots," Luna replied in a lusty tone, pulling Lincoln closer, placing his ear against her heart.

"So, ya like my natural body beats, eh lil bro?"

"I could listen to them all day rocker gal."

"And I could just cuddle you all day my little white-haired angel...but..."

"I know, I gotta lot of work to do still. We gotta head back, and I need to own up to my massive screw-up."

"Wait dude, don't think of it like that. You don't gotta own up to anything. You did nothing wrong. You were just pushed beyond your breaking point. If happens to everyone."

"But what I did was way out of line back there in the church Luna. And running off on all those people?"

"Ya did that cause some snowflake prick couldn't take someone givin a thumbs down to his imaginary Jigglypuff in the sky."

"I...sorta, I just wanted to get away from there, from everything and collect myself...but I royally screwed that all up...everything...all cause of my emotions and issues. And I sorta gave all those people attending Mary and Chivonn's funeral really bad impressions of us Louds."

"I don't think you did. They saw a hurt kid. And even if it did leave a bad impression. So what? Who cares? I personally don't give a flying fuck what they think of us."

"Yeah...I know you're cool like that, but I owe it to mom and dad, Leni, Luan...Barry, LaShawna..Pastor Adams...these are wonderful people Luna, and...I gotta apologize to them at least, and make things right for ruining Mary and Chivonn's funeral service. They deserve that much, not matter if I'm hurting this badly in my head and spirit and all that messed up junk...I only hope they accept it...shit," Lincoln sighed, huffing out deeply as he leaped out of Luna's lap, putting his head in his hands like he had a major migraine.

"Hey, they'll understand bro. They have to, I mean, you went through some seriously fucked up bullshit for someone your age...I mean you're a teen, but you get what I mean. I wonderful guy like you should have to go through that, but ya did, so they'll cut ya some slack. After all Lincoln, it's only natural to be on edge and doubt things about God and shit like that."

"Thanks Luna...you know...ya may not understand since it seems you don't really go for it, but...it's silly, but I don't want to stop believing in God."

"It's cool bro, doesn't bother me none what ya wanna believe."

"I...I mean I don't know if I can anymore, I dunno."

"It's fine bro," Luna said encouragingly, trying to make Lincoln feel that it was acceptable to have this mindset right now.

"Yeah...I, I wanna believe that something grand and greater out there is watching and caring for us all...something that will make it to where I can be with you always, to keep our family together and safe and happy, but...I just don't know anymore. Reality has a funny way of slapping you silly and showing how cold and indifferent it can be to ya, and then you think all these things."

"I get it bro, really, I sorta feel that way myself, even if I ain't goin full Dawkins, so dude, you don't need to feel so bad about it."

"Dawkins?"

"Never mind, but like I said, don't feel bad if you need to take time in figuring your beliefs out after these events. Hell, I ain't holding my breath."

"Yeah...one of the downsides is that if there is a God and it's like the one we use to go to church for...we're both gonna go straight to hell probably...forever."

"And that's pretty fucked up man. Eternal fire and suffering till the end of time, for you and me? Me maybe since I'm into Rock N Roll, AHAHAH, but you? I mean, we're bro and sis doin this, but it's not like we murder or steal or cheat. We aren't bad people, we don't make anyone suffer, plus, you're one of the sweetest dudes around dude."

"I wouldn't even mind going to hell for what we got Luna, sorta like that movie with Robin Williams where he rather spend eternity with his wife in hell for committing suicide to be with her. Just so long as I'm with you...I dunno, I just don't care, except about you. All this stuff lately got me thinking about souls and truth, evil and how so much seems to exist. I guess you live in a little bubble, and one pop opens it to how messed up and chaotic and indifferently cold and cruel it can be. It also sorta got me thinking about us too Luna."

"Oh? What about bro?"

"Luna? Do you think we sorta rushed into this? Becoming a couple in secret? I don't regret it at all, but we both had simultaneous emotional revelations on how we felt for each other subconsciously...we realized we love each other...then the next day in the afternoon we confess and hook up in secret as a couple, like that, on the spot."

"...you think we should of taken it a bit slower?"

"N...not entirely. We were sort of in the moment, and boy what a moment that was."

"I'll say, best dry hump up to my life then, and yeah, I can see what you mean..pretty quick and damn coincidental for us to go through that episode...all cause I had to rock one out to the spiritual idea of you doin me in a friggin theater bathroom stall, ahahhahahaha."

"Haahaha, I think Lisa would call that a catalyst."

"HA! I think spooky lil sis Lucy would call that a cliché if she knew, how all that happened by chance so close to each other time wise, a pretty damn short period of time...wow...it does seem so rushed when ya sorta reflect on it. I didn't really wanna reflect on it really cause that night was one of the most fucked nights of my life."

"Some of those stories actually have heart Luna, a lot more than the source material sometimes...but...yeah, you're not too far off actually," Lincoln said with a minor blush, Luna noticing and snickering.

"Oh man, I bet you've looked for that! What next? Sibling incest crap on there? Harems? HAHHAHHA!"

"...actually," Lincoln mumbled in a squeak, looking away as though his body language was confirming Luna's joking. She looked like she was ready to bust a gut.

"...oh my god, tell me that's not a thing bro," Luna heaved in a chuckle-choked laugh.

"It...sorta is...in the M sections..."

"...bullshit dude."

"...nope...Gravity Falls...Powerpuff Girls, Danny Phantom, Harry Potter, Rugrats, Amazing World of Gumball, Boondocks, a shit ton of Avatar, the old and new one, oh, and Lucy's favorite little series."

"What's that, Oblongs? Lil miss Creepy Susie, ahahaha."

"Nah, My Little Pr...uuuuhhh...I mean...nothing," Lincoln stammered, catching himself on nearly spilling Lucy's biggest personal secret interest.

"My Little Pr...what?"

"OH NOTHING!"

"...whatever dude, but ya seem to know this stuff...pretty damn well," Luna said winking at him.

"Well, it is the internet...rule thirty-four reigns supreme."

"Rule what bro?"

"Oh come on, you gotta know that one!"

"Sorry dude, I live in the mortal world, eheheh."

"Huuh...if it exists, there's a porn of it. That's rule thrity-four."

"...that has a lot of fucked up implications if that's true."

"You have not idea Luna."

"Good bloody friggin day mate, how's that even work? All that fucked up shit online?"

Lincoln smirked and gave a little chuckle.

"I dunno Luna, how's my older sister able to wanna cum all over my face," Lincoln said with a cheeky tone, Luna punching him hard in his shoulder in an embarrassed but smiling expression.

"Man...and I thought we were fucked up. How fucked up do ya gotta be to be writing about brothers and sisters having secret romances and banging each other?"

"I dunno...never struck me as viscerally when I...eh ehm...accidentally stumbled on them by accident."

"Accidentally ya say dude? AHAHAHAAHHHAHAHAAHHHAHA! Bullshit! Just like you were "accidently" caught by Lori jerkin it to thicc latina girls, aahaha!"

"SHE TOLD YOU!?"

"A few of us...Leni didn't know what she meant, thinking Lori was talking them being dumb instead of wide and curved like the word thicc means, ehehe...gotta admit bro, you got damn good taste in some of that thicc Latina booty...Ronnie Anne per chance?"

Lincoln lit up like a red pepper.

"...I plead the fifth...and it was sorta her mom and a girl in a black and yellow dress I saw once...her...her name was ironically...Theia Kiek QuTee, if that's believable..."

"...OH MY GOD THAT'S EPIC...and oh my god, you little perv!" Luna hoarsely laughed, rolling backwards off the worn torn bean bag chair right onto the dusty trash-laden ground. Lincoln just puffed his cheeks out in annoyed embarrasement.

"Awwww, it's cool bro. Hey, wanna know a dirty little fun secret about me that relates to all that?"

"...what's that chuckles?"

"...you forgot to delete your browsing history. Good thing I went on the computer after ya...I wandered into your browsing history...and before I deleted it all to cover ya, cranked one out to those same girls as well," Luna said with a lusty wink and click in her mouth.

Lincoln just shook his head smiling.

"We're just two pervs, aren't we Luna," huffed in an accepting sigh.

"Yeah, but I got the best lil perv."

"So...just to make sure I understand...you masturbated to those big butt Latina girls...and you're not joking?"

"Swear on the God you're havin troubles believing dude. I remember I had the crib to myself after Lori dragged you and Leni to some clothing store-"

"Yeah, that sucked, big time, all those pretty girls around me...and I was wearing a small pair of shorts..."

"Heheheh...so, I tried something you seemed to like, and turned out I sorta liked it too, and got off it pretty damn hard too...but, Lincoln?"

"Hm?" Lincoln replied, noticing a shift in Luna's tone, and like that, the revelation he had about Sam and her sprung up in his head again. He wanted to be honest and let her know he overheard that conversation and ordeal, but, decided to tell her another time.

He was enjoying this rejuvenating period to just collect himself and enjoy this time with Luna.

"Bro? You're okay with the fact, and I guess it's sorta a fact between us now...and I think Luan knows too...that I sorta swing both ways?"

Lincoln smiled, deciding there to gently and subtly hint at the idea of Sam very discreetly, without actually saying her name or giving too much to the imagination.

"I mean...Rockers sorta date and bang Rockers I guess, eheheh, they swing. Sorta got that from the joke about Rockers in general being able to do a variety of folks...girls, guys, some in purple clothing, some with blonde hair and blue-dyed fluffs...I guess I know and can understand you're bisexual Luna, and to be honest? It doesn't bother me in the slightest. I love you for who you are, no matter what."

"Thanks a trillion bro. Hmm...wonder who that random hottie you were describing was, huuhh...she sounds hot," Luna said with her tongue dangling out towards him like a cat, making Lincoln chuckle.

"Hahahaha, it's a mystery," Lincoln said with a smirk, hoping and thinking Luna didn't catch on to the subtle nod to Sam.

Luna suddenly pulled Lincoln back into her lap and looked deep into his eyes.

"But even if that's what I'm like bro, just know, no matter what, you're the one for me. I promise I'll never fuck you over and break what we got. You mean the world to me dude."

"You mean the world to me too Luna, and I promise too, I promise we'll be together, and most of all," Lincoln said, coughing up to clear his voice as he hovered his lips directly over Luna's, "I promise you you're not a phase, my rocker-gal."

"Lincoln," Luna gleefully quivered, seeing each other's eyes get glossy, before they sunk into each other's lips for a deep, passionate wet kiss that lasted for what they felt was an indeterminate time. They didn't count seconds, they just melted in the moment, Lincoln letting himself feel Luna's recovering embrace and their classic pow-wow talks, lewd, revealing and yet still ever tender and understanding as ever, even after all of his personal trails flushed out, including hers as well.

Luna pulled her lips off, seeing him tearing up full blast with a aura of increased recovery in his eyes...they still had an air of angst and issues in the back of his stare, but, Luna felt like he was on the right track emotionally now at least, opening up about his bent up emotions.

"Bro, no matter what, it's you and me against this screwed up bloody world, and I'll help you work through this funk you're in...Luan will be there for you too, so will Leni, Lori, mom and dad, Lynn, Lucy, Lola and Lana, and hell, Lisa will too, and hell, Bobby, Pop-pop-"

"Holy crud...Pop-pop...we sorta forgot about him in all this drama crap, didn't we."

"He's doin okay. Mom and dad told ya he's helping with the recovery efforts, right?"

"No...they didn't," Lincoln mumbled, feeling somehow uneasy about his parents not telling him about Pop-pop. He was having a ball with his friends at the retirement home the last Lincoln knew about a month ago, and just hadn't the time or mindset to contact him yet, even though he knew he was safe.

"I...wonder why they didn't tell me he was helping with the damage," Lincoln pondered.

"Don't know, but, now ya know. Point being bro? We all love you so much."

"I know, I got the best family ever...and the best sister and partner in life ever," Lincoln replied, pulling his head inwards for another deep, sensual kiss, with tears, but happy tears. Luna rubbed his cheeks, feeling a surge of warmth from his freckled, flushed face, still as wonderful as ever in her mind, his white hair, and most of all, out of all improbability...him returning the feelings she has for him.

"EH EH EHMM!" A loud, forced cough echoed from their corner.

It was Luan with a blank expression. Luna and Lincoln blushed heavily, Lincoln rolling off Luna onto his little bean bag chair, wiping his face and cheeks quickly to make it seem he wasn't tearing. His red eyes gave it away.

"You two have no idea how lucky you are; I told Leni to look down the street on the off-chance you two were...eh ehm...recovering."

"You know us too well comedy-girl," Luna said, smiling as she popped up and gave Luan a deep hug. Luan looked down over to Lincoln.

"I always wanna know the ins and outs of my adoring crowd, eheehhe...but...Lincoln? Are you feeling better?" Luan asked, kneeling down next to him, cuffing his cheek. He smiled and pulled Luan in, hugging her tight.

"Yeah, I...I think I'm feeling better."

"I'm so sorry all that happened Lincoln...everything...it all falls back to that horrible day," Luan whimpered lowly, before Lincoln gripped Luan in his own tight embrace.

"That's all in the past Luan. Come on, this was on me. Better to accept that than-"

"But Lincoln, we caused you to go through all that horrible stuff...I'm indirectly responsible for-"

"No you're not Luan. Now...come on, give me a tight hug, will ya? We don't need to be bringing up that crap in the past anyways. I just want my family, cause...that's what makes me happy," Lincoln said jovially and warmly, his tone melting Luan so much she nearly cried her eyes out, but managed to hold back.

"Lincy? LINCY!"

Leni, back in Leni's mode, was running full force at Lincoln, suddenly sweeping him, Luan and Luna in one giant mauling bear hug.

"LINCY! Please!...please, don't do that again! And are you okay? Did that mean man hurt you? Let me see your face," Leni said hyperactively as she dropped Luan and Luna, looking over Lincoln's face...she noticed his eyes were red with vestigial tears and his cheeks looking flushed and wet.

"...Lincy...you...you were crying, weren't you...Lincy," Leni whimpered, looking like she was about to release a barrage of waterworks...and suddenly she did in comical fashion.

"Leni, it's okay. I'm feeling a lot better. Luna really helped me."

"I...I know, Luna is really good at helping you...but I'm not. I'm the oldest sister in the house now. Like...I should like, be the one to help, to make you feel better...and I don't know how Lincy...I don't know how. You're hurting in your heart so much, and I don't know what to do or how to fix you baby brother...I HATE YOU HURTING LINCY!" Leni cried out, wrapping her arms around herself as she sniveled. Lincoln could feel Leni's lament, feeling utterly incapable of helping her brother in his time of need, and it tore her apart knowing this.

It was the same ballpark feeling of incapability, powerless to do anything to help someone, whether it was for your younger brother...or a nice elderly lady dying before you.

So Lincoln leaned in and hugged and held her closer, as now, he was the one consoling her.

"But you are Leni. You are helping me."

"Hoooooo...huhuooo...how Lincy?" Leni choked out, Luna offering Leni a tissue, Leni blowing comically hard into it and handing it back to her, Leni mouthing "thank you" while Luna mouthed "yuck."

"By being here for me. I...I'm sorry I didn't tell ya about where I headed off to. I wasn't in my right mind, but, I'm so, so glad you're here. You, Luan, Luna, and I'm guessing mom and dad are looking for me too and on the way now since you found me?"

"And Barry and that Sam girl are looking too, but I didn't tell them, mom or dad yet" Luan added. Luna looked over with a tinge of animation, obviously in response to the mention of Sam, but quickly brushed it off. Lincoln caught Luna's curious body language and quietly smiled with a chuckle.

"But Leni, please don't feel like this. You're the sweetest older sister I know, and-"

"And I can't take your pain away. That's what big sisters are supposed to do Lincy. They're supposed to make younger brothers and sisters feel better. And I can't even do that! I'm a bad bad oldest sister in the house!"

"No you're not Leni," Luna said sternly, putting her hands on Leni's shoulders, "You are the angel among us older sisters dude. Without you, we'd really be a house of savages and lunatics, ain't that right Luan?"

"Uuuhhuh...yeah! We'd be so out of line we'd be called the Loud Nuts, ahahahahha, get it?" Luan punned, at first thinking about Other Leni and how that completely trounced Luna's argument, but instead suppressing that little detail and focusing on the Leni they know most of all.

"...I...I don't get it," Leni cooed quietly.

"It's okay Leni, the point is, you are an awesome big sis, and Lincoln will get through this, and you are capable of helping him."

"Luan is right Leni!" Lincoln added, " I will, and in fact, having you all around is helping me! And I couldn't ask for a better oldest sister in the house, eheh," Lincoln chuckled to Leni's phase with a little warm laugh.

That minor happy little laugh seemed to make Leni's troubled mind melt away for a moment, just to hear him be like that again.

"Your little laugh is like sunlight to me Lincy," Leni thought with extreme, teary joy.

Lincoln, Luna and Luan wrapped themselves all around Leni, as Leni choked with a teary laugh and coo, as she renewed her tight hugging of the three.

"Really Leni. I'm gonna apologize to everyone I wronged back there, even that man who hit me. He was just-"

"No Lincy...don't apologize to that man," Leni suddenly said with such a cold, chilling tone that made Lincoln's heart stop, Luna's as well. Luan knew who it was though.

"Holy crap, did she just change without me knowing?" Luan thought curiously with unease, wondering how in heck she didn't notice the usual little glitch in Leni's body and personality that preceded the change to Other Leni.

"Lincoln...that man did a horrible thing to you, no matter what you said, he deserved it," Leni said with an earthy, unusually low version of her tone, before Leni's eyes seemed to pop back on like she was a light switch.

Lincoln and Luna just looked stunned at her.

"...what? Was it something I said?"

"...dude...you okay Lenizilla?" Luna asked.

"I'm fine, but...what's a Lenizilla?"

"Fu...I mean, friggin-A yeah Leni! I dunno what that whole tone switch right there was, sorta not like ya, but, dude, you gotta let me tell bro what ya did to that man!"

"Maybe not a good idea," Luan mumbled loudly, Leni looking at her and Luna with a bit of child like concern.

"What did Leni do?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah...what did I do?" Leni asked like a confused child.

"...wow, ya went mama bear mode so bad you musta blanked out. Gnarly Leni!"

"Lincoln?" Luan began, "Leni sorta...well, that guy was chasing after you, and Leni here-"

"Did I do a bad thing?" Leni asked with concerned eyes.

"No, NO Leni! You kept bro safe!" Luna said rubbing Leni's shoulders, "that tosser totally deserved to get wrecked up like that from ya, ehehhe."

"L...Leni?" Lincoln asked in amazement, wondering where this was going.

"...ah, dude...Leni went full mama bear mode on that guy's ass, the moment he slapped you and kept after you...guessing ya didn't see it cause you were all lost in that emotional state, but, boy, did she lay a can of god-style whoop-ass on that guy."

"It's true Lincoln. Leni, she...you," Luan said, talking to Leni who now seemed stunned to hear what she did as her other self, "she grabbed that huge man and lifted him off the ground, virtually choking him till we managed to convince something in her to drop him...and she threw him backwards into the crowd. It...it got crazy, that's for sure," Luan said with a nervous chuckle.

"I...I hurt someone..." Leni mumbled, her tone implying she was about to cry.

"No Leni, in fact, the guy can still move around. Most important thing dude is that ya protected bro. As crazy as ya suddenly got and as...well...let's face it, you turned into a scary fuc...I mean, person Leni. We didn't expect you to have that in ya, but...it helped for bro's sake," Luna chirped happily to Leni, Leni just getting the pause and mental framework to understand.

"The point being Leni is that you protected Lincoln from that overly emotional man," Luan encouraged in her tone.

Leni just stared at the ground, before looking at Lincoln directly.

"You didn't see any of it, right Lincy?"

"I...uuhh...I didn't really see anything Leni," Lincoln said, putting on a neutral tone since he didn't know what tone to put on.

"I'm glad you weren't there then. I...I get kinda mean and...scary when my family is in danger I guess, like, in totes untotes danger...sorry Lincy. I don't ever wanna have you see me like that."

"You don't need to be sorry Leni. I owe you one for keeping that guy off me...even though it sounds like it was a bit excessive," Lincoln mumbled, but leaning over and hugging her, "your heart was in the right place. You were just trying to protect me, and I thank you greatly for that."

"Well, dude? That asshole hit ya so hard that if Leni didn't do anything, me, mom, dad and Luan would probably have kicked that fuc...dang, I mean, that jerk's face in. No matter what ya say in there bro, you should never get hit like that, ever. Asshole-"

"LUNA!?" Leni cried out.

"Oh, yeah, eheheh...god it's hard to not curse with ya around...so jerk-face...got into it with Lincoln over God, how Linc basically denied and scoffed at the notion and shit, ya know that, this set the fat jerk off, yadda yadda yadda, ya know this, right? I mean you did it."

"I...I only remember some stuff after the song actually guys...it's sorta a blur from there on, before...must have been having a little day-dream, it's not that big a deal," Leni said, quickly trying to shift talks from her seeming lapse.

"What matters is that the guy is not gonna press charges against Leni, the Pastor told me, but, Lincoln?" Luan asked, glad she was able to start shifting from a potential slip of Other Leni's existence, "mom and dad are probably gonna want to charge that guy. And you say you don't want to?"

"...I let my emotions get the better of me, same as him...I can't hold that against him, otherwise that'd be way hypocritical of me."

"Even though he physically assaulted you dude?" Luna asked.

"Well...God does say if I remember from reading certain parts of the Bible...I think if I paraphrase it right, to basically surrender your right to personal revenge...something like that. A book I got on how to be good without God referenced that too, so, I guess on that I sorta do wanna agree with Jesus, even if...I doubt all the other stuff."

"Wow dude...that's extremely mature and forgiving...you're still a lil commie atheist," Luna joked as she gave him a noogie.

"Well you're a deviant amoral infidel, ahahhhahaahha," Lincoln responded, giving Luna some joking punches in the shoulder.

"I guess that makes me an agnostic heathen then, eheheh," Luan added, her, Luna and Luan now laughing at themselves. Leni just looked at them curiously.

"Uh, guys? Like, what does that make me? Cause I don't know what any of that means really."

"I guess...that still makes you the angel among us Leni," Lincoln said, pretending to map out an imaginary set of wings and a halo over Leni's head.

"I think that suits her perfectly, don't you think Luan?" Luna asked with a smile, humming a little song jokingly, one that sounded very church-like.

"Angels above? More like heaven lost one right here, ahahah."

"Oh you guys," Leni said with an embarrassed blush, before several large thuds from outside were heard.

Suddenly Rita and Lynn Sr came from around the corner wall, seeing Lincoln, Luna, Luan and Leni all huddled together.

"Lincoln! Girls, ya should have told us you found him!" Rita said sternly, running over to check on Lincoln in a rather overly concerned aggressive motherly fashion as Lynn Sr looked at them all with a stern expression.

"We only found this place cause we thought we saw Leni running in some building from a far distance. Good thing we picked up Barry and Sam, she caught that."

"...dang it Sam, that's another one ya owe me on," Luna thought in annoyance.

"Girls? We're waiting."

"Dad, mom, don't blame them. I...I'm the one who told them not to contact you," Lincoln said through the side of his mouth as his mother was applying some medicine to his cheek, still a bit red, but now looking less flamed.

Rita and Lynn Sr looked at him curiously.

"I...I really didn't want you to see me like that," Lincoln added in a rather meek tone.

"But we're your parents Lincoln. No matter what, you're gonna be our little baby boy," Lynn Sr said, pulling Lincoln up and giving him a tight fatherly hug, "and I know you said really harsh things back there, but...that son of a...Lincoln, I love you son."

"We love you so much dear, we just, we hate seeing you in such pain, and we didn't fully grasp the nature of your pain Lincoln," Rita added as she came over, now tearing over Lincoln's white hair as she embraced him as well.

"I...I'm sorry I wasn't more honest with my trauma and feelings on everything that happened to me. I know you wanted to help me. I just...I didn't want to worry you. I wanted to try and work this out myself and be the mature brother...I guess I screwed that up," Lincoln chuckled in a sigh.

"You are always going to be a man in our eyes son, and one of the most important things about being a man is knowing you're hurting in your heart, and be willing to release those emotions out, especially to your family," Lynn Sr said as he hugged Lincoln tight.

"We'll always be here for you Lincoln, and if you need help dealing with these emotions, we're going to be right here, and if that's not enough, we can get help. We can see if the McBrides can refer their therapist to us," Rita said as she rubbed Lincoln's shoulders.

"Dr Lopez? Clyde's old therapist? I...I mean, if you want me to, but...I think I know what I gotta do to get this funk out of me guys," Lincoln said with a contemplative look about him, mechanics in his head that not even Luan or Luna could map out.

"Lincoln? Are you sure about this? We're prepared to do anything to help you son. Anything," Lynn Sr added.

"I know...so...could you trust me on this one then? Please? I know I have a bad track-record on going on my own and...things blowing up on me from my lack of seeking help with my thoughts and emotions...but I've been thinking...I think I know what I need to do."

"Bro?"

"Lincy?"

"Lincoln?"

"Son?"

"Sweetie?"

"...is the service still going on?" Lincoln asked suddenly.

"Barry just told us it finished," Rita said, Lincoln giving a defeated sigh.

"But," Lynn Sr added encouragingly, "he did say the Pastor did give his immediate family an extension for extra personal time since he owes Barry some favors, so...does that help any with what you're thinking?"

"Yes...yes it does," Lincoln cooed as he pulled his mom and dad in tight, "and I'm so sorry for causing that scene in the church and telling God to...well, you know...I really made us Louds look like jerks..."

"We could care less about that honey. What's important is our children, all of them," Rita said, waiving the girls over to the group hug.

"Now, son? Are you sure you want to go back?"

"I'm sure dad...and I owe Barry and his family a monumental apo-"

"Apology accepted kiddo," the weary yet warm sound of Barry echoed from the corner wall, Sam standing behind him sheepishly.

"Wow...everyone's here now," Luan observed, thinking back whimsically how a mere ten minutes or so ago Lincoln and Luna were effectively making-out, "...really dodged a bullet with Luna giving me that little clue in the text."

"Barry," Lincoln mumbled softly as he walked over slowly, Barry walking over to Lincoln as well. Barry rolled his arms out.

"Barry...I owe you the biggest apology in history...I'm so sorry...good lord I'm so sorry I ruined your wife and granddaughter's funeral service...I said horrible things about God and lost it...I...I'm sorry Barry, I-"

"And I already said I forgive you Lincoln, now, come here," Barry said, pulling in a slightly whimpering Lincoln, Sam in the corner shoulder seeing Lincoln tearing up. Sam tried and tried...but felt water seeping out of her eyes now. She looked across over Barry and Lincoln, and saw the other Louds tearing up...she saw Luna's eyes tearing up.

"Wow...even with those tear streaks...you're still a beautiful goddess," Sam thought, drinking in the image of Luna like never before, and feeling such joy in being in the presence of the Louds and their tight kinship.

"...did I ever fuck up so badly...I wish I was as strong for us Luna...I wish I could be half as strong as your crying lil bro there...god I'm pathetic," Sam chuckled in a silent cry, turning away to make it look like she was looking at something across the hall towards the entrance.

She did notice something very interesting outside...no more rains.

"Whoa...it was all wacked out there...now it looks like it's starting to clear up...figures it does when we're inside," Sam mused, rolling her eyes, as it looked like Barry and Lincoln were talking to one another about something. Lincoln waived over the rest of the Louds to tell them something.

Sam just kept her distance.

"I'm not part of that shindig...I wish I could have been...I wish I could still be yours Luna," Sam mused, before putting her hands in her pocket and heading to Vanzilla outside.

"Huuuuuh...I guess that's just how we rock across the universe...at least we'll always have our song," Sam thought, now quietly humming, "I mean...the song I still think about ya to when I blew us apart...fuckin Guns N Roses...they nailed it...," Sam thought forlornly before she started quietly singing to herself as she lay against Vanzilla, "...Give me a whisper, and give me a sigh, give me a kiss before you tell me goodbye...Don't you take it so hard now, and please don't take it so bad...I'll still be thinkin' of you, and the times we had, baby...And don't you cry tonight...Don't you cry tonight...Don't you cry tonight, there's a heaven above you baby...And don't you cry tonight."

"Glad ya still like that band," a heavy British accent said suddenly behind Sam, causing her to jump straight up in the air; Luna was giving a nod over to Sam before she passed her up and took a seat, padding for Lincoln to sit next to her. Lincoln suddenly jumped in, followed by Rita. Luan then crawled in the back seat, before Leni pressed on Sam's shoulder.

"Wanna sit with me on the way back?" Leni said warmly. Sam said yes with a very big non-verbal nod, as Barry wiggled in the passenger seat, presumably easier on his back versus being in the back seats.

Sam crawled in and took a spot next to Luan, hoping she didn't overly invade her space. Luan seemed to be okay with it. She did however give Sam a very thorough look over.

"Probably just her eyeing me harshly for what she thinks I did to Luna...and I deserve that still..."

---

Five minutes later.

Back at the church, Vanzilla pulled up to an empty parking lot. It looked as though the funeral services had ended, but, by the entrance, was Pastor Adams, LaShawna, the heavy-set aunt Dolores Rachael, and still in LaShawna's arms was baby Emily.

They all stood their spots at the entrance, waiting for the Louds, Barry and Sam to pull up to a parking space near the entrance and pile out one-by-one.

"Well, at least they found that boy," LaShawna said.

"And he best repent for saying those ugly things, is all I'm sayin," the aunt said.

"Now now Dolores, this is a personal battle for the child. He'll come to the lord when he's ready. He's a good moral child, just lost is all," Pastor Adam said quietly, before the group came up.

"Well, we're all here now, and it seems everything is peachy keen now," Barry said with an unusually cheery disposition.

"But...Barry, the funeral service," Dolores mumbled.

"Aside from a major hiccup, it doesn't matter. We're gonna have a more private...second period. Now, Mr. Loud?"

"Yes Barry?"

"I...was actually talkin to your kid Lynn, eheheh...Lincoln? Are you ready?"

"I am...I think this will help me a lot."

"And you're sure about this Lincoln?" Barry asked again with more concern.

"I'm sure...if your family will agree to it and let me apologize first...Auntie Dolores? LaShawna, Pastor Adams...even you little Emily," Lincoln said, looking at them all, "I can't begin to express how sorry I am for ruining Mary and Chivonn's funeral service...it was wrong and utterly horrible for me to-"

"Let's just let this pass on and say we forgive and forget, shall we Lincoln?" LaShawna said, giving Lincoln a one-armed hug as Emily was in the other, doing a little cooing and mumbling towards Lincoln. Emily suddenly grabbed Lincoln's finger tight in classic iron grip style baby's had.

"Hehehehe, little Emily likes you young man," Aunt Dolores said, giving a momentary smile to Lincoln before becoming neutral in expression again. Pastor Adams just gave Lincoln a few pats on the shoulders.

"I wonder if I should make ya do some community service for this, heheeh, but, considering what you've gone through young man, I'll let it slide. I just hope one day you can try and find the lord's love and forgiveness one day."

"Yeah...maybe," Lincoln said in a trailing off tone, before heading inside the church by himself. Everyone else followed from a minor distance behind him, before Barry stopped them from coming through the main church area, keeping the doors partly closed.

"Barry?" Pastor Adams asked him curiously.

"Grandpa?" LaShawna asked as well in minor shock.

"I'm giving Lincoln some private time...to talk to Mary...maybe to God as well," Barry said. A few nervous looks rocked the stares from everyone, even including the Louds. They seemed to not even know about Lincoln's mission.

"Is...my son about to-"

"Yes Rita, he's about to have a one-on-one with my wife and hopefully come to personal acceptance from this horrible ordeal once and for all. My family still has plenty of time to say our goodbyes, but Lincoln only has so much...I'm going to give him this one, okay everyone?"

"Lincy," Leni cooed silently, wanting to be there next to him, Luan, Luna and Rita trying to make their way out as well, only for Lynn Sr and Barry to hold them back.

"Girls...if Lincoln needs to do this alone, then we need to let him do this, okay?"

"...okay daddy," Leni said, still watching from the crack of the door.

"Fine pops," Luna said with a sigh, Luan only nodding silently. Rita seemed the most defiant, but eventually held off. The Jemison's seemed unusually understanding to this new happenstance.

Meanwhile...

As Lincoln walked down the middle of the church, over the messy, somewhat wet and dirty floor, the stands of seating ghoulishly empty and alone, a low humming sound from the partly cloudy yet gradually increasing sunlight filtering through the stained glass, Lincoln let the sights embrace him.

One ray of sunlight seemed to pop right through a stained glass art piece of an angel, piercing through the middle of the angel right into Lincoln's chest. Another ray came from a cross in the next window, shining on his head. Everyone still by the doors saw Lincoln's hair temporarily glow a brilliant white for a moment.

"Whoa...wicked," Luna mumbled.

"That's like, so beautiful," Leni added.

"That's gotta be a sign from above," Barry thought happily.

Then, one more ray of light pierced one stained glass window, this one of artwork of the heavens above with God, who in this piece of art, was a tan and heavy-bearded being with a contemplative yet comforting expression, with arms wide out and welcoming in stature.

Lincoln suddenly illuminated brilliantly, much more so than a person illuminated by a ray of sunlight normally should.

"Oh my god," Rita and Lynn Sr cooed out.

"There's no way this is...what the..." Luan tried coherently mumbling, the Jemison's at a loss for words too.

"...it's a miracle, a beam of light and love from our heavenly father," Barry said lowly as Aunt Rachael and LaShawna hugged him from behind.

And while all this happened in the matter of ten or so seconds, Lincoln didn't even notice this, his mind deadest on the sights straight in front of him.

He was all alone in this enormous space. Barry let him pursue this last action, in hopes to rattle his soul back to normal, not so lamentful, not so enraged and self-hating, not so haunted by the trauma of seeing death and nearly losing the love of his life before his eyes.

Near the caskets, Lincoln gave a solemn minute long silence to Chivonn out of respect for Mary, Barry, the Jemisons and the other family members who were there not only because of Mary.

Luna and Leni had to deal with a somewhat similar situation with indirectly seeing Chivonn's death, and the Jemison's lost not only a wise, sweet elderly lady who's been through the grinder many a time, but her granddaughter, a woman who seemed to have an extremely harsh life out in this side of town, bearing a child with her family being the supporting kin since the father apparently ran off.

That angered Lincoln greatly, the idea of the father abandoning his child like that, if he heard LaShawna and Barry right...it really angered him.

"That...that's one of the few things in this world that's so unforgivable to me...leaving your kid high and dry like that...just abandoning them...why mom and dad are so awesome," Lincoln thought, reminding himself how fortunate and lucky he was to have parents like Rita and Lynn Sr.

"But I'm not here to be angry...I'm here to come to terms...to be at peace with all this. But, if only you could still be here and be a mom to your daughter Emily...I'm sorry," Lincoln said, nodding for a few moments in silence...before shifting onto the one he intended to face, one-on-one...one last time.

Lincoln kneeled down on his knees, facing Mary for real, for the first time since her eyes closed that last time.

His heartbeat bounced from erratic to pensive, his sweating sporadic. He just looked at her for a few minutes, trying to let this reality destroy the erratic hallucination and dreams he's had of her recently.

And then, after feeling like he adjusted himself with her presence long enough...

"H...hi Mary," Lincoln said softly, his voice low, almost near cracking, but he held it's teenaged firmness down.

That single hi, as low as it was, could be heard from the back.

Luna grabbed hard Luan's shoulder, Luan looking over to see glossy eyes.

Lincoln's hi to Mary felt like a punch to the stomach to everyone watching this, even Barry, and he was readying himself to do something similar soon himself.

Luan just pulled Luna into her frame as she watched Lincoln. Leni grabbed Lynn Sr and Rita tight by their waists and held them close to her. Aunt Rachael pulled LaShawna and Emily.

They heard more murmuring, but Lincoln had gotten so quite that they couldn't hear, but the gentleness and fragile nature of his tone...they could feel his words so, so much.

Back at the casket...

"I...I brought this with me," Lincoln said, trying to put on a happy mood, pulling out a wilted, artificial flower. It was the one he found in the tunnels after the tornadoes, the one he kept on him and looked at all the time to not forget about Mary's minor but unbelievably huge role in Lincoln's development.

"I...I dunno why Mary, but I held onto this, just incase...well, a lot of reasons actually...I didn't want this just laying there in that tunnel...I wanted to keep something of you with me, remind me of that really nice thing you did for me, making me feel so much better after my fight with my sisters. You didn't have to do any of that at all, and yet ya did...that still sticks with me a lot Mary," Lincoln said, warmth trickling back in his voice when thinking about what Mary did for him, how nice it was to talk to such a sweet and kind older lady.

"H...here...I didn't know how likely it was that I'd ever get the chance, but, I'd like you to have this back. I can see where on your dress you're missing your flower," Lincoln said as he tepidly placed the false flower in a spot on her dress that hooked on. Lincoln took great pains to make sure it was cleaned and washed with no blood anywhere on it, a difficult task for delicate yellow fabrics. Luckily some coy questions to Leni and his mom solved that issue.

"It completes your outfit...there...but...I...I don't know if you can hear me...I doubt it...but...on the chance you are, somewhere...I need to thank you Mary...thank you...so much, th...th...ank you," Lincoln suddenly choked out, his hands gripping the side of the casket tighter.

Everyone caught that, and Luna was ready to run like hell out there to him, but Luan stopped her. Luna looked back with some hurt and angst, but Luan shook her head.

"He asked us to let him do this, remember?" Luan softly said to her.

Luna defiantly nodded as she breathed heavy sorrow-laden eyes.

"You didn't deserve dying like that Mary...it made me question everything...everything Mary, and I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry, but...I don't know if I can believe in anything loving like a God anymore after this...it hurts...it hurts so much...and...I can't really say, but you probably know this if you really are up there," Lincoln cried silently as he leaned in closer to her face, "I...I really am at heart a sinner...you called me a nice child, but...I'm...in love with someone really close...too close...someone I should not be in love with...but I am...and I can't help it. And I almost lost her that day. It...when I thought she was gone, I nearly took my own life. I just...Mary, I guess I'm confessing in my own way that I'm not as nearly as good as you thought I was. I've done...sinful things...with those close to me. But I can't help it...I love her Mary."

Lincoln broke down silently for a moment, before regaining his composure and wiping the tears off his face.

"Good lord...ah crud, I got tears on your dress...I'm sorry for that too," Lincoln said in a teary chuckle.

"I...I don't really know what I wanted to say to you Mary, beyond that I'm sorry you died...I guess seeing you die, seeing my sister almost die...seeing a bunch of people die...it made me question things about myself...what I believe, or...don't believe...what I hate about this world. I...I'm sorry I said I hate God...I...I dunno, I don't want to hate him, and I know you'd want me to believe he loves me, but...if he could take you, and almost my sister...Mary...I just can't...I...I can't believe I'm talking to a dead body like she's alive," Lincoln thought morosely in a darkly comic way.

"Dang...this would be sickly funny in a Luan comedy routine...uuuugghhh...but...if I can sum everything up Mary, I'm...I'm sorry for me...for what I've drifted to become, because...honestly? I think God may have chosen the wrong one. I guess, when I looked online to see what I may have, it's called survivor's guilt I think...but I'm so much more of a sinner than you, and if God chose to take someone like you away over me, I just keep thinking...is he just messing with us? Or...is there nothing really up there? Or maybe we don't really know, and it's all just a hunch we carry because we want some kind of justice in the universe...I really don't know. This book I'm reading messed me all up I guess, ehehhehe."

Lincoln took some major momentary deep breaths.

"Wow...this...unloading to you actually made me feel a bit better...I don't think I deserve it, after what I did to you and your granddaughter's funeral service...that's another thing, your granddaughter, how unfair that is for go...never mind. I don't wanna drone off again like this to you...your husband Barry is waiting to talk to you next...and frankly, I'm sorta thinking I just talked to a dead body for the last five or so minutes...but if you're up there Mary...thank you...I justed wanted to be upfront with you one last time, with how I feel about all this. I really couldn't before, but, I think I owed it to you this time," Lincoln said with a heavy sigh, crossing some tear marks off his face.

"Oh...I hope Barry doesn't mind if I leave this with you...I know you liked them," Lincoln said as he pulled out a worn but intact object.

It was a cowtail candy. He slipped it in Mary's hand.

"I owe you one Mary. I don't know if we'll ever meet again, and I can only imagine how much you'd disapprove my love life, eheheh, but...at the very least, I can say you are one of the nicest people I've ever met, and one of the people who should not have had to go so horribly. Goodbye Mary...and I hope if it is true, God is taking care of you."

Lincoln brushed Mary's gloved hands, looked over her small, delicate frame one last time, mouthed an additional "thank you" towards her, then headed back slowly with his hands in his pockets, still soaked from the earlier escapades.

He looked towards his soaked shoes, not minding how uncomfortable they were on his soaked prune feet. He partly dried out, but still, was rather soaked to the marrow.

He looked up again, towards the stained glass image of God looking down from heaven above.

He sighed, pausing his moments to look at it, hands still in his pockets.

"Please...if you are real...forgive me...and if you can't forgive me, forgive my sister Luna. I know it's a sin, our love and what we're doing, but...she's the love of my life. If you could give me some kind of sign you'll let us be happy," Lincoln thought with a pleading tone, his stance still strong.

Then, yet again, this time the rays shined right through the image of God's form and warmed Lincoln up. He saw the light enevelope him all over for a moment.

"...maybe it was just clouds moving and the sun shining through at an angle...maybe something in the glass," Lincoln thought, thinking in terms like Lisa, "...but...I'll keep an open mind for you at least...I still don't know, but...I'll stay open," Lincoln thought with a smile, the rays of light heating his cheeks.

It felt good.

And then he continued on his lonely way through the illuminating church, before getting near the ajar church door entrances.

Looking back, he saw the sun rays from the stained glass dwindling lightly. It seemed the clouds took over again.

Lincoln walked through the doors, seeing everyone stare at him with glossy eyes.

"Lincoln?" Rita asked.

"Son?" Lynn Sr asked.

"Bro?" Luna asked.

"Lincy?" Leni asked.

"...brother?" Luan asked.

"I...I think I'm going to be okay now...I'm feeling a lot better," Lincoln said with a melancholy smile, wiping a stray tear off his face.

Leni suddenly grabbed Lincoln in a tight monster hug, lifting him off his feet and crying silently into his chest as Lincoln struggled to breathe...but decided to take it. Rita and Lynn Sr smiled, eyes watery, as Luna and Luan wrapped themselves around Lincoln as well.

Barry tugged on Lincoln's dress coat.

"Lincoln?" Barry asked.

"Leni, could you put me down for a moment?" Lincoln asked gingerly through constricted breathes.

Leni nodded, put him down, and backed off to Luan and Luna's spot.

"Yeah Barry?"

"I think it would be best for now if you took a break from us Jemisons...you should spend time with your family and heal yourself. I don't know if that's what helps for you, but...for me, family helps heal," Barry said, looking back at LaShawna, the babbling Emily and Aunt Dolores. Pastor Adams simply nodded in agreement.

"I...yeah, you're right Barry. Family does heal, and I got one of the best, biggest ones," Lincoln said with a gentle yet proud smile, looking over to the immediate family members in his wake.

"And Lincoln? It was a true blessing to have met you and your family. I do hope we can stay in touch."

"Me too. I want my niece to know of the two girls who saved her," LaShawna said, looking square at Leni and Luna.

"And to have known the young man who made my wife's last minutes on Earth wonderful before her departure to heaven...and...I know you are having a hard time believing in that. I won't hold that against you Lincoln...I only wish you one day may find it in your heart to welcome the idea."

"Thank you Barry...I may one day," Lincoln said as he hugged Barry, before LaShawna with Emily and Aunt Dolores gave a group hug to Lincoln.

"You really do have lovely white hair child," Aunt Dolores said to Lincoln, "it's so...so unique, so angel-like," she said with a minor giggle.

"And we want to thank you so, so much for inviting us to your service...and we can't begin to apologize for how it turned out," Lynn Sr said, shaking Barry's hand, before Barry pulled him and Rita into a hug.

"Jesus forgives and reconciles my brotha, we all can, and we will...and Leni?"

"Yes Mr. Barry sir?"

"...good throwing arm on ya," Barry said with a wink.

Leni just turned bashful, waiving her hand at him, before the Louds and the Jemisons finally departed their own ways, the Louds from the entrance lobby, the Jemisons into the church with the caskets of Mary and Chivonn.

Out in the parking lot, Lincoln looked at the church curiously, then at the sky above him.

It was unusually cloudy again, like it was about to downpour hard again like earlier.

"Huh...I thought the clouds were clearing up earlier," Lynn Sr opinioned.

"They like, sorta did earlier when Lincoln was in there," Leni said.

"Well...ain't that something bro?" Luna said, giving a rub to Lincoln's shoulder, "...maybe miracles do exist, ehehehe."

"Huhh...hmmmmmm...maybe."

Just as they all were about to pile up, Luna noticed Sam hanging alone, looking up in the sky.

"I'll be right back dudes," Luna said, winking to Lincoln as she pulled off from Vanzilla and walked over to Sam.

"Hey dude...ya need a ride?" Luna asked.

"Nah...I'm good Luna, but thank you though," Sam said sweetly, "I got a ride coming for me, so it's all cool."

"Huh...well, gnarly then...well...I'll see ya ar-"

"Luna?"

"Uhmm...yeah Sam?"

"...I really am sorry I ruined us...you deserve better than me."

"Ah...come one Sam, don't-"

"It's true...you need someone who's stronger than me...I...I hope he's stronger for you than I ever will be Luna," Sam said, a sad but oddly content, accepting smile on her face with glossy eyes puncturing Luna's heart.

"We can still hang in the future dude, we can recover."

"I know...but...it won't ever be like before...will it..."

"...nah...it won't...not like that."

"...I can live with that. At least I know you're happy Luna. That's what matters to me."

"Thanks Sam," Luna said with a sweet tone as she walked over and hugged Sam tight, Sam hugging her tight back.

"You got my number. In a little while, if ya do wanna rock out like old times, let me know, k?"

"Okay Luna...it...it'll be sorta hard, but-"

"I know dude, take all the time ya need. Bye Sam."

"Bye Luna."

And like that, the Luna climbed back in, and the family was piled up in the single lone car in their side of the parking lot, and left the range of the Hartford Memorial Baptist Church, the lone blonde haired girl with the blue patch on her forehead still standing in the middle of the parking lot, looking up into the cloudy sky, faced towards the brief opening rays of sulight.

And thus began the long travel up north, to home. On the way home, Luna sat behind Lincoln to rub his shoulders as Leni and Luan cuddled tight next to him, all three falling asleep as Rita and Lynn Sr were bubbling from how sweet the scene looked.

"They really love that kid, don't they Rita."

"He couldn't ask for better sisters...and we couldn't ask for better daughters...and I'm surprised we haven't gotten a call from the house yet. Seems like everything's A-okay back home."

---

About an hour later, Vanzilla pulled up to the driveway. The lights were flashing on and off in the house, as though the breaker was going on and off.

Lynn Sr jerked Vanzilla harshly on the brakes, him and Rita alerting everyone in the van to wake up; Luna had fallen asleep leaning forwards with her forehead on Lincoln's back head.

Everyone now groggily up from their power naps from the day they had, they all ran in unison up to the front, Lynn Sr panicking the front door open.

As the door swung open, the scene became all too apparent...it was the Loud house alright.

The living room was in shambles, the dining room table flipped, crayons, toys, sports equipment, mud, a huge herd of frogs jumping to and fro, with Lynn Jr and Lucy fighting over what appeared to be a melted television remote, Lola and Lana having a major fight with items of random variety shooting from their fight cloud in sporadic, deadly galore, and Lily dangling from a wire from the ceiling talking in a Howard Cosell impression, narrating the fight Lola and Lana were having with a warped manic expression on her face.

"EH EEEEEHHHHMMMMMMMM!" Lynn Sr loudly growled out, stopping everyone in the lower area of the Loud house in their tracks, Lucy mid-pulling Lynn Jr's hair, Lynn Jr mid-noogy-ing Lucy's head, Lola and Lana with their arms and legs wrapped around each other like UFC fighters, and Lily dangling from the ceiling, looking like she saw a ghost...before the cable she was holding onto snapped and landed face-first into the couch, bouncing up and knocking Lucy and Lynn Jr off the couch onto the floor, causing a stir of the enormous herd of frogs to jump through the boiling collective of the Louds back from their excursion...all but Lincoln, who was just looking at the sights with a plain face.

"...oh shit...we're so screwed," Lynn Jr dreaded.

"...prepare my casket for permanent burial Edwin."

"...IT WAS HER FAULT!" Lola and Lana both cried out.

"...ride the pale horse...and it's name it said on him...was...death," Lily quietly mumbled in a horrified, Johnny Cash voice.

"Uuuhhhhh...I can explain," Lynn Jr squeaked, before Rita put her hand up silently and quite violently.

Just as Rita, Lynn Sr, Luna, Leni and Luan were about to go ballistic, Lincoln walked forwards, surveyed the scene, smiled, and took a huge, tension-breaking breath, before exhaling heavily.

He put a palm up to the brewing, boiling collective behind him, and gave an "I got this" expression.

"I got this one you guys. You five go take a break. We'll clean this up, won't we," Lincoln said, winking to everyone in the living room, Lucy, Lynn Jr, Lola, Lana and Lily giving blank stares and blinks to Lincoln.

"...ya sure bro?" Luna asked, her vain in her forehead gone.

"Because...this was not suppose to like, happen while we were gone," Leni added.

"We ASKED...Lynn to keep things under control," Lynn Sr said with a stern tone, looking dead at her. Lynn Jr just smiled sheepishly. Lucy let go of the melted remote, causing Lynn Jr to face plant into the carpet.

"...how come you're so calm about this Lincoln?" Luan asked, now more curious that furious.

"...it's my home, that's why, aaaaauuuuhhhhh...Lynn? Lucy? Lola? Lana? Lily? Let's get to cleaning up this mess, shall we?" Lincoln said with a happy, chipper tone.

All five seemed to defy the laws of physics and ran instantaneously to get supplies, all now cleaning and picking up in one manner or another frantically.

Lincoln breathed easy, feeling a surge of warmth and familiarity to the standard chaotic ways, everyone else in the doorway looking a bit stunned by his extreme calm and composed demeanor...then suddenly a huge explosion rocked the house from the second floor.

"CONFOUNDED HYDROCHLORIC ACID! AGAIN!?"

"Aaaauuuhhhhhh...heeheheheheh...it's good to be home," Lincoln chuckled.

---

Author's Notes

...I'm super fucking sorry it took this long to post a new chapter. Writer's block hit me like a ton this time around, and I've been having to really dig myself outta it. I hope you can all forgive me. This chapter really kicked my ass, LOL. It's funny, you have the entire rough chapter and whole story in your head, but the difficult task of converting from thought to word still buckles and holds ya down.

I hope this was an acceptable chapter to you.

Alas, I was planning on trying to get this out by Dec 26th to make it a one year anniversary of the posting of this fic, but alas, I wasn't entirely happy with the end product, and added a boat load of revisions and additions...more additions than anything.

But now I hope you will all enjoy this final entry of the 2017 run of FLRA, and welcome the next and first 2018 chapter of FLRA. The coming events are roughly what I dub the "phase two" of this story, and the next chapter I promise will be far more humorous light-hearted with a swing back to the lewd and fun my earlier chapters like the Twister game and Halloween chapters contained. In fact, I'm going to try and make this coming chapter gigantic in size, rivaling the Halloween chapter, so that may take me a bit of time, but hopefully, not too much, since I have no writers block on that one. Another added feature is that the next chapter is directly inspired by several pieces of Loud House fan art, from several of my friends who's art I just love and adore. They give their express permission so long as I cite them in the end, and will eagerly do so.

Here's to the coming conclusion of 2017, and here's to hope for a wonderful 2018.

CHEERS EVERYONE! AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

TotCall720

PS, in case anyone's wondering if I'm going to be completing the story soon, I'm not. At this point, I'm about 25% the way through with FLRA. Much, much more to come, and many more things to happen to our beloved characters.