As Loud War XXXIII commenced at the far end of the hallway, Leni stalked across the way to her oh-so-favorite younger sisters' room, the sound of drums heavy and steady on the other side. Knocking once, then twice, it was on the third attempt that she narrowly avoided knocking on Luan's forehead as the door opened. "Heya, Leni, What can we do ya for? Other than drumming up some tunes, hehe!" The second-eldest had to actively avoid rolling her eyes as she accepted Luan's outstretched arm as invitation to enter.
She came to stand in front of Luna's drum set, where the musician was currently engrossed in her passion, headbanging hard and fast enough that it gave Leni a migraine just looking at it. Though the brunette had headphones on, they were barely hanging on to her head; she was probably deaf by this point. Still. "Luna, have you, like, got a minute?" No response. "Oh, Luuuna~!"
"Good luck getting through to her like that," clearly Luan hadn't taken the hint, "she's been off her rocker lately about a gig she has coming up. Get it?"
"Yeah, I get it, Luan." Leni didn't even try to hide the exasperation in her voice. 'You're ABOUT to get it. GET IT?' It was too soon to share those feelings, though, so she kept that one back along with the others that were quickly building up. After snapping her fingers in front of Luna's face a few times, and being roughly shaken off when she tried to tap her on the shoulder, she considered clocking her in the mouth before remembering an option the old her would have pursued without even having to think about it.
She left the rocker alone and switched her attention to the purple guitar resting on its stand a few feet away. Making her way over to it as nonchalantly as she could, she grasped the neck just as Luna's head came up.
No sooner had she lifted the instrument up than the drumming ceased and Luna shouted, "DROP IT!"
'Drop it, eh? Like, what would the OLD Leni do?' So she did.
Neither Leni nor Luan would ever question how their sister managed to dive over her rig from a sitting position to catch the guitar. "LENI! What the heeeeeCK were you thinking?!" Luna cried, inspecting the guitar for damage with frantic eyes, as if it were a child or made from solid gold.
"Well, like, you told me to drop it!" The look that they shared told Leni that she'd nailed her former idiot persona, something she'd need to stay on top of for the next couple days. "Now that I've got your attention, though, I need your help with something!" She threw her hands together and put on her best puppy dog eyes. Luna's response was cut off by the sounds of madness and mayhem spilling back into the hallway, piquing Luan's interest immediately.
"I'll just excuse myself while you two talk, there's gold to be mined out there!" Dashing to the closet, she wiggled inside before reappearing with a camcorder in hand. The simple act wrenched Leni's attention away from Luna and toward that closet. She recalled Lincoln's video contest gaffe, but had never stopped to consider just where those embarrassing movies had come from, hadn't had the presence of mind to...she HAD to get in there.
"Yo, dude, you still with me?" Luna snapped her fingers in a repeat of the other girl's actions moments ago. "You said you needed help?"
Oh, right. "Oh, right! So, here's the skinny!" Luna cocked an eyebrow at that. 'Don't overplay it, Leni,' the blonde cautioned herself. "So, like, everyone in the house knows that you're the resident party and all-around good times expert," THAT went straight to her ego, if the somewhat shocked smile on her face was anything to go by, "and that's what I need help with. Some friends invited me to a party hosted by Carol Pingrey — you know, the one Lori absolutely hates? — and it's supposed to be, like, the biggest party of the year! But I have no clue what to expect and I know I'm, like, not the most interesting person by myself..."
Luna clapped her hands on Leni's shoulders and summoned up her best 'cool sister' image, maneuvering her sister to sit on the bed and retaking her perch on her drum stool. "Well, you came to the right place, Len. A lot goes into makin' a party great, from havin' the right crowd, to settin' the right mood, to makin' sure that every single person is havin' a great time. These are the things the host must worry about, and trust me, I've worried about 'em before."
"What you have to worry about," she continued, making sure she held Leni's attention over the din of battle outside, "is being cool. Now, of course me and the others know how cool you are." Leni might have found it in her to be flattered by the comment, if she didn't already know what a shallow definition of 'cool' Luna had. "But those kids that are gonna be on Carol's short list are probably the furthest thing from cool. No style, all 'class'. Probably couldn't tell a Swagger single from Lucy's Linked-In Park, or whatever it's called. And one way to be cool is to make a hipster party cool. So, let me lay down a few tips on how to up the ante at a party. First, you'll need to find out where the liquor cabinet is..."
Following that was an admittedly thorough list of steps Leni could take to 'crash the bash' and make it a night no one would ever forget, but would probably wish they could. She almost wished she'd begun taking notes at some point; some of these were going to come in handy for making her sisters' lives miserable at various points.
Instead, she put as much effort into looking interested in whatever Luna was spouting as she could stand, a more pressing concern being that closet. It was logically the only place Luan would put her videos, and she was curious how familiar the girl in front of her was with them.
A shriek emitted from the hallway, followed by Lori shouting at Lynn to watch where she's grabbing at and Luan cackling harder than a hyena. "Luna, Leni, c-come out here! Y-you have to see this!" Knowing that she would end up out their sooner or later, Luna decided to 'humor' her and see what all the fuss was about. Leni moved to appear like she would follow, and when the resident Loud had left she diverted toward the closet door.
Opening it slowly yielded a horrible creaking sound, despite having produced no such noise when Luan got into it earlier, so she instead threw it open and narrowly avoided smashing the adjacent wall. Rifling through a few odds and ends, she uncovered her prize: stacks upon heaping stacks of tapes, all neatly labeled for her perusal. As she began to sift through them one thing became clear above all else. 'She has an unhealthy obsession with Lincoln...so many of these are of him getting hurt, too...' What the fuck was wrong with her sister? Did she get some sick thrill out of other people's pain? 'I'll do you one better, Luan. Let's see how funny it is when you're the one getting put through the wringer.'
Finally she came across a few with her name on them. "'Lisa's Laboratory, Vol. II: Leni Edition.'" That would be useful on several different levels. "'Pimple Problems?' Real cute. 'Spider-Len', eh?" Those were just a couple of the highlights, and she began to gather some of them up when she heard the familiar sound of boots headed her way. 'Of course.' Hastily dropping them, she got the door closed just as Luna popped her head back into the room.
"You, uh, havin' fun in here dude?" Luna asked, and Leni hoped she wasn't being too obvious as she nodded her head. "Cool, cool. Watchin' them go at it never gets old, I gotta admit. Anyway, I've told you most of what I know will help out. The biggest thing is, just be your cool self." She punctuated her conclusion with a thumbs-up, and Leni was almost taken in by her sister's sheer earnestness again before remembering what she was dealing with. Luna had always been able to talk a good game, but when it came time to walk the walk she would walk away instead.
Resigning herself to plundering the trove of tapes later, Leni closed the distance and forced herself to give Luna a hug. "Thanks so much, Luna! I knew I could count on you." Her chin resting on the other girl's shoulder, she allowed her happy visage to crumble into a menacing scowl. Pulling Luna even tighter, she remembered the exchange between her sisters at breakfast. "You know, besides Lori and Lincoln, sometimes I think you're the only one I can really count on, Luna. You're so dependable, so chill. Like, I can't think of a time you ever let us down." That scowl evolved again, to a sinister smirk as another stage of her master plan began to take shape and the musician began to tremble in her bear-trap embrace.
"N-no problem, sis. I, uh, I try, y'know? S-speakin' of which, tryin' to breathe here..." Luna awkwardly patted Leni on the back before finally being released, making a show of gasping for air. She allowed a shaky chuckle to escape as she eyed the blonde warily. She seemed the same as usual, that carefree smile practically lighting up the room...brushing off the weird vibes, she sat down at her drum set and collected her sticks as Luan re-entered the room. "You good now, Len?"
"Perfect, Luna. Like, just per-" A tap on her shoulder interrupted her. "Luan, what-"
A spider. A plastic spider, to be precise. The same plastic spider her joke of a sister had been scaring her stupid with for years. White-hot anger exploded through her, but this time she wasn't going to hide it. 'Time to kill one ugly bird with two stones.' "AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!" The scream was loud enough to cause Luna to cover her ears, her eyes closing momentarily, and that was all the opportunity Leni needed. She seized the spider along with the stick attached to it, and tore it from Luan's hand, putting her whole body into it to throw it as hard as she possibly could.
Right at Luna's bass drum.
The stick flew true and punctured directly through the thin covering, the spider catching at the end and tearing the hole even further. Luna opened her eyes to first see Leni's heaving form, and Luan behind her with her hands clasped over her mouth. Her gaze fell to what both of them were looking at, and she sat in numb silence for a moment. The calm before the storm
"What...in the HELL...is WRONG with you two?!" She jumped from her stool, flinging one arm at her now-busted drum and the other at her sisters.
Leni was the first to recover, looking for all the world like a penitent saint. "Oh my God, Luna, I-I'm sorry! Like, I just...I just freaked out, I-I had to get it off me!"
"A bit of an overreaction, don't you think? Not only did you break the drum, but probably my prop, too!" Luan shouted. That spider had been one of the first gag items their dad had gotten her, and everyone knew it.
"Maybe if you would grow up and stop scaring people with toys, they wouldn't get broken!" Leni whirled around to loom over her sister, and relished the way Luan shrunk under her withering glare.
The prankster's defiant streak returned with a vengeance, though. "I'M the one who needs to grow up?! You're still scared of spiders, and who else would get fooled by a 'toy' anyway?!"
"That's enough outta bleedin' BOTH of you!" Luna slammed a stick on her cymbal, the sound ringing in all their unprotected ears. "Leni, just...just get outta here. We'll figure somethin' out later." The mentioned sister affected a stricken look before moping out of the room, her heart filled with vindictive glee. She heard the door close behind her, and ducked into the bathroom. She strained to hear the ensuing argument, to reap her dark harvest, and she wasn't disappointed.
"Luan, this is just as much your fault as Leni's. Maybe even more. You know how she is with that freakin' spider gag."
"Oh come on, like I could have expected she'd go that far. Sorry about your drum, but-"
"'But' nothin'! You're out a cheap toy on this; that bass drum cost almost two hundred dollars!"
"Jeez, really? If only it were as cheap as the craftsmanship, eh?" A terrible, lovely silence followed before a clanging sound rang out from under the door.
"Really, Luan? Do you hear me joking about your kids toy? Leni was right, you really do need to grow up."
"Stop calling it a toy! It was more than that! You can just buy another drum, that prop was special to me!"
"I can just buy another, huh? Where's that money gonna come from? Are you gonna pay for it? Is Leni? Dad's definitely not going to, he already warned me to take care of them! Your stuff ain't any more important than mine, Lu!"
The argument only escalated from there, and Leni slunk back to her room, ecstatic at having turned the two on each other so soon. With Luan isolated, she would largely be free to torment the obnoxious girl. Now that her sisters were obliging her, they would be divided and conquered in no time at all. She recalled one of the principle history lessons they'd all been taught in school. 'A house divided cannot stand.' How ironic that it'd been spoken by someone that shared a name with her brother, in many ways the glue that held their own home together.
Therein lay another piece of the puzzle. She had to do something to protect her brother from the fallout of her revenge, while keeping him ignorant to it. However she chose to proceed, though, one thing was certain.
The Loud House would indeed be divided, and nothing would save it from destroying itself.
The three blondes and one brunette languished on the couch as their father and mother considered how best to keep them from killing each other in the wake of one of the more vicious fights that had taken place lately. "Lori," Rita began in a warning tone, "is this situation going to repeat itself while we're away?" The teen, practically an adult, wanted to crawl under a rock and die. When was the last time she had gotten lectured like this?
"No, ma'am. I'll be good with them. Even if they don't deserve it." The last part came as a mumble, but she wasn't quite quiet enough.
"Lori, we're serious. I don't want to hear that you've been antagonizing your sisters for an entire week!" Their father exclaimed, rubbing at his balding patch.
Throwing her hands up, the eldest shrieked, "why am I the one being told this?! They were the ones who jumped me like a literal pack of wild animals! And Lola stole my phone!" She rubbed at her bruises and what she was sure felt like a missing patch of hair.
"I did NOT! I should though since you ripped my favourite dress!" The 6-year old still looked ready to fight, but between being held back by her twin and the stern gaze levelled at her by her parents she managed to keep herself in check. Lynn and Lana had chosen the path less travelled and simply took the lecture in stride, knowing that the other two would bear the brunt of it.
"You're not off the hook either, Miss Cute and Mean." Lynn Sr. said, catching his daughter off guard; everyone knew Lola was daddy's little girl, so it was especially rare to hear her be chided by him.
The rest of the siblings listened from the top of the stairs, minus Luan, none more interested than Leni at the trouble brewing. 'Lori against Lola, Luna against Luan. With them preoccupied, I might even be able to start by tonight.' She'd have to establish a hold over the house early on in order to maximize the extent of their punishment. While the twins were likely firmly opposed to their oldest sister now, she couldn't count on the others to jump on the bandwagon just yet.
Just because she didn't have any allies didn't mean she couldn't stop Lori from making any, though. Luna was largely an outlier among the sisters, if her most recent and oldest intact memories were anything to go by, and Luan and Lynn would be easy enough to deal with. That would just leave the children, who wouldn't put up much of a fight; the challenge there was stopping anyone from intervening on their behalf. 'Like, I still have to find out how to get Lincoln out of here...he said he would be spending time with Clyde for a couple days, maybe that could become a week-long thing...I wonder who Clyde is?'
Another fifteen minutes of grilling later and the troublemakers were released, Lola bounding to her room ahead of the rest. The eavesdroppers barely had a chance to disperse before she flew past them, followed soon after by Lori, who waited until she'd mounted the last step before stomping the rest of the way to her own room. "Show's over, I guess," Luna was the brave soul to break the silence, "and I'm not interested in starring in an encore." As the group dissolved and everyone went their separate ways, Leni watched curiously as Luna descended the stairs, rather than return to her room.
'This is my chance to get a bead on her.' Giving her sister a head-start, Leni began to follow and caught a glimpse of the girl on her way out the front door. As she made it to the living room, however, she was distracted by hushed voices coming from her parents' room. Luna could wait, she wouldn't miss out on this opportunity. Sidling up to the wall, she shimmied along it until she was as close to the door as possible without poking in.
"Maybe we ought to call Shirley up, Rita." Lynn suggested as they worked on packing the last of their essentials. "The girls are so on edge lately, and I'm worried about Leni. She hasn't talked like that since she went on the medication."
The Loud matriarch sighed as she zipped up another suitcase, followed by the sound of creaking springs. "I know, honey. It's such short notice, though. I thought Lori would have it in hand, but they've been going at each other nonstop lately. That's not even taking Luna and Luan into consideration!"
A slow boil began working its way through Leni's body. 'Like, here we are again. They're not even trying to hide their scheming anymore.' She knew it was a risk to drop her cover even a little bit when she'd spoken to them, and now it seemed it had done more harm than good. 'If they get aunt Shirley or anyone to watch us, it's going to ruin everything.' A few teens and some children she could deal with; anyone from the outside was going to require a less subtle approach. Whatever else happened, she needed to have free reign of the house going forward.
Acting before she could convince herself otherwise, she sucked in a breath and knocked on the door frame, silencing the parental planning session. "Mom, Dad, it's me again."
"Oh, uh, come in, sweetie!" Her mother called, and she shuffled into the room.
"What's on your mind, Leni?" Lynn asked, taking a seat on the bed.
Leaning against the frame, she did her best imitation of Lincoln's wheedling expression from that morning. "I was on my way to, like, check on Luna and I overheard...about the medicine." A heavy silence settled between them for a moment before she pressed on, "I've been taking them, honest. You can even ask Lori! H-have I been doing something wrong?"
Her mother was the first to answer. "No, no, sweetie! We were...well, just worried after earlier. You seemed so down." Was she really so upbeat while drugged that some half-assed whining about not knowing who she was yet counted as being 'down'? 'Like, I hate to think how worried they must be about Lori, then.' Leni herself didn't have a job, friends or even much in the way of any kind of relationships with her siblings because she'd been intentionally prevented from doing so; Lori chose the same situation of her own free will.
"I'm fine, Mom, really. Luna and Luan, though..." Best not to dwell on herself when it seemed they had other worries she could prey upon.
"You said you were going to check on Luna?" Lynn asked, trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. "What happened up there? We could hear shouting, maybe even a few thuds!" Leni explained the talk she'd had with Luna, omitting the parts that would make them both delinquents, Luan's prank and the aftermath. "I swear, those two are going to be the death of us."
"Now honey," Rita assuaged him, "we were beyond lucky that none of them really fought like this up til now. It's bound to blow over before too long, they can't go on like that while sharing a room."
So that episode Leni had been witness to a short while ago wasn't an isolated incident. 'Good thing they think I'm stupid enough that they can just talk about this stuff with me here.' What could put them at odds on a regular basis, though? Aside from the occasional family free-for-all, Luna and Luan were thick as thieves, and just as troublesome. If there really was a rift between them, then it might provide an opportunity that might not otherwise have been possible.
"She went out front, maybe to the garage," Leni said, having learned everything of use to her for the moment.
Bringing a hand up to her chin, her mother lamented, "I hope she didn't leave somewhere. Those friends of hers," she shivered at the thought.
Lynn considered the situation before finally instructing his daughter to carry on as she had been."Go ahead and see what she's up to, Leni. If she'll listen to anyone right now, it's you."
'Like, what is that supposed to mean?' Leni wondered. What would it matter if she was the one to talk to Luna? If she-
["Oooh, slumber party! Tonight's going to be epic, Len!"]
["You know it, Lu! First item on the agenda is makeovers~!"]
["Aww, not that! No matter how good it comes out, I'll never look as good as you."]
["Psh, I wish I looked as good as you, Luna. I have to work to be this beautiful, but you're all natural, the real deal!"]
["C'mon, you're makin' me blush! Alright, alright, maybe just a little bit..."]
[][][][][][][][][][]
["What's wrong, Luna?"]
["I didn't have anything for show and tell or any talent to show off! There's nothing special about me, not like your carving..."]
["That's not true! You can sing, and play the drums-"]
["That's just a game, Len, not the same as real ones-"]
["And you're the only one who Lucy will stop crying for-"]
["Well, yeah, but I can't take her to school-"]
["And you're the nicest, coolest sister in the world! What's not to show off?"]
["...You really think all that, Leni?"]
["I don't just think it, I know it, Luna."]
[][][][][][][][][][]
["Leni, Mom and Dad are really mad about what happened."]
["So? They're, like, always mad at me for something anymore."]
["They're worried too, Len, and...and so am I. You're not actin' like yourself-"]
["I'm getting tired of people saying that. I know who I am, and if, like, no one else does, that's their problem."]
["I...Leni...what's got you so ate up? If it's anything I can help with, just say it."]
["You really can't, Luna. But...thanks. You're the only person who even seems to care enough to offer."]
["C'mon, Leni-"]
["Leni..."}
{"Leni? Leni!"}
{"Is she alright? Leni, talk to us, sweetie!"}
Her dad was standing next to her...no, over her. It took Leni a moment to realize she was down on one knee, her right hand cradling her head and nursing a rather large goosegg; had she fallen at some point? "W-what happened?" Even though the old memories weren't locked behind those pills anymore, they still came at her with such force, at such inopportune times. 'A literal blast from the past, eh?'
"You spaced out on us and took a pretty nasty dive," Rita explained, kneeling next to her to get a look at her head. Leni nearly lashed out at her, their proximity to her while in such a weakened state setting her nerves on fire. Her mother seemed to realize it as well, or at least suspected, and cautiously raised her hand to her forehead. "No fever. Are you sure you're going to be alright? I can always call up Dr.-"
"NO!" Leni cried, lurching back before catching herself and willing her heart to stop racing. "I'm fine, I really am." None of them believed that at this moment, not even herself. 'Come ON, get it together!' Using the nightstand near their bed to support her, she rose to her feet. "I'm just, like, really tired. I didn't sleep that great last night. After I see if Luna's okay, I'll go lie down." She about-faced and hurried from the room under the distraught eyes of her parents.
Coasting to the front door, she ignored Lori's combing of the living room for her phone to march out onto the porch and hung a left toward the garage, stepping between bikes and toys littered across the yard and driveway. 'What the hell is wrong with you,' she thought to herself, dwelling on that spectacle she'd just made in front of the people she could least afford to have find her out. 'Like, I've already been through worse than this the past couple days, so why now?' The large door was open, and she could hear clangs and thumps emanating from inside.
Poking her head in, she found Luna sorting through crates, bags and piles of various odds and ends, roughly shoving anything of no use to one side. "Just bleedin' perfect," the brunette muttered, tossing a hubcap to the other side of the room, "of course it had to be the drum. They couldn't just have me rock my axe, they wanted drums. Now it's gonna be neither." Leni remained silent, watching with rapt attention as her sister crouched and made a seat for herself amongst the junk. Flinging herself into it with a heavy sigh, Luna brought her arm up and let it fall over her eyes.
'She always was the dramatic one, like, even more than me and Lori.' The flashback she'd endured came back to the forefront of Leni's mind as she considered this side of the would-be star that they rarely got to see. With her new clarity of mind, Luna's betrayal stung her even more now that she remembered just how close the two of them had been.
In those bygone days, when the rocker's fashion sense was inspired by Leni's budding creativity and their hair had been nearly equally long, they gossiped and played together and supported one another as both sisters and best friends. It was a bond that had eluded them where Lori was concerned, and the others were just too young to share in it.
Luna was the only one there for her first fashion show, despite their siblings and friends promising to attend. Of course, it was everything a 'show' hosted by an eleven-year old could be expected to be, but it was the thought that counted. She, in turn, was there to cheer Luna on for her first cello recital, before the screech of metal strings had corrupted her. Give and take, push and pull, for better and worse, they'd been there for each other.
All for it to come crashing down with the rest of her life that day they'd dragged her out of her home and made her into their plaything.
That ever-present bile stewed in Leni's stomach, but this time it mixed unevenly with something other than hatred; regret? 'Regret what? That I didn't realize how unreliable she was until it was too late?' Now wasn't the time to get sentimental. Knowing now that a wedge existed between Luan and her only frequent ally, she would be remiss if she didn't apply proper pressure to that wedge and separate the two for good. Sucking up her pride, she shuffled into the garage and ventured, "Luna?"
Without moving her arm to even look at the interloper, Luna mumbled, "go away." When she didn't hear the clap of sandals on the pavement heading back to the house, she flopped her other hand in a shooing motion as she said, "go on. Get."
Nearly dropping all pretence at effectively being treated like a dog, Leni forced herself to sound as contrite as possible. "Luna, I know you're still probably, like, totes mad at me. But I just wanted to make sure you know, like, how sorry I am-"
"Sorry's not gonna bring the dumb thing back, or get me past that gig and into something that matters!" Luna bellowed, sitting ramrod straight in her junk throne. Leni wanted to unleash on her, both verbally and physically, about who deserved apologies; who'd been denied opportunities. Instead, she slowly stepped back and began skulking out of the garage, reminding herself that she wasn't actually upset at her sister's frustration with her. She had nearly rounded the corner again when she heard a much more quietly spoken, "wait."
She stopped and considered Luna out of the corner of her eye. Her sister had stood up, and seemed to be searching for the right words as she threaded her fingers behind her head. "Leni," she began at length, "like, I know you didn't break the drum on purpose. It's just, that show might be my chance to break out, y'know? Like, I could finally start makin' a name for myself, finally have somethin' to show for years of practice." So it seemed she hadn't changed much after all. Despite her outward confidence and image, she was still that little girl filled with self-doubt on the inside. It almost made Leni feel bad for what was coming. Almost.
Turning to level with her, Leni asked, "it's that big a deal, huh? Like, I can't even imagine how bad you must feel." If she could play on that insecurity, separate Luna from the rest of the siblings...she might just have an ally of her own, or at least someone who wouldn't stand in her way. "Maybe Luan and I-"
"Don't get me started on her," Luna snapped, managing to catch the blonde by surprise. "I don't expect you to know any better," Leni's lips formed a thin line and her eyebrow raised at that, "but she doesn't even CARE about how the things she does screws with people. I mean, I like to think of myself as pretty chill. I can put up with bad jokes and a few weak pranks here and there, but it just goes on and on, day and night, twenty-four seven! And whenever it goes bad, she just flakes out and doesn't own up to it at all."
'Never mind that you don't care about how your music, like, keeps everyone up at night. Still, good to hear we're on the same wavelength as far as that hack goes,' Leni mused to herself. After all this time, the two of them still shared some of the same sensibilities, and she reckoned that it would make for some interesting developments over the coming week. If she was going to pull this off though, she would need to prop the musician's spirits up a little bit; she wasn't likely to get much help from a downer.
"But it's just, like, one show, right? You've still got your entire life to hit the big time, you're only in high school!" Leni offered, hoping to capture some of that dynamic they used to share. "Besides, if they only want to see the drums and, like, not the whole band's worth of you that you are, then they're the ones missing out."
Luna shrugged, but the redness in her cheeks betrayed her as she idly played with one of her earrings. "You really think so?" Leni nodded as enthusiastically as she thought was appropriate, and a dopey grin founds its way onto the musician's face. "You're right, I know. I probably sound like a real downer right about now, right?" Leni's heart leapt into her throat at the belief that she might have said more than she realized, but her sister continued, "after so long it just feels like...I don't know, like I'm bein' held down, or something."
Leni nearly lost her cool again at the sheer audacity of saying something like that in her presence, and it might have shown in her body language because Luna's eyes widened a moment as she stopped to really look at her. "Leni..." The two of them remained silent and still for a few uncomfortable moments, a heaviness to the air between them. It took her a moment to recognize the look on Luna's face, or rather in her eyes; the same expression she'd caught herself with in the mirror on several occasions, the one she was sure was on her own face just a short while ago.
Only then did it occur to Leni that revisiting that dynamic might imply that she remembered it in the first place. Luna had already revealed that she keenly recalled their history once that day, and once again Leni had overplayed her hand. 'Stupid, stupid, STUPID-'
The younger sister began to close the distance in hesitant strides, and Leni found herself backing away again. And as was becoming an annoyingly common occurrence lately, she backed directly into the tricycle left out on the driveway. Shutting her eyes and bracing herself for another blow to the head, she instead felt an arm around her back straining to hold her up. Cracking one eye open, she saw her saviour using her other hand to grasp the trike and keep them upright in an unsteady embrace.
"W-why?" Leni would have slapped herself if she hadn't been in such an awkward position. Had she had this many issues with speaking her thoughts aloud before?
Hefting her sister up, Luna squinted her eyes at her after giving her a once over. "What do you mean? I wasn't just gonna let you fall!"
Leni believed her, and that was a dangerous thing. This person standing before her wasn't just untrustworthy, she was worse than the rest. After all that time going out of their way for each other, Luna had abandoned her in her darkest hour. Her face burned with anger as she shook her head and began the short trip back to the house, ignoring the concerned calls that followed her. She'd already botched her attempt to throw her parents suspicions off, and she wasn't going to do any more damage here than she already had.
Unlike with the others, however, she'd come following after someone who it seemed would follow in turn. A hand grabbed her wrist and she had to concentrate fully on not ripping it from Luna's grasp as she was brought to a halt. "Leni," her sister implored, a sort of huskiness to her voice. Against her better judgement, the older sister turned to face the younger, and was surprised to find her with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry too. I know you're just lookin' out for me." Releasing her hand, Luna brought her own up to rub at her other arm.
"I don't know if you remember, but we used to have these kinds of talks a lot," Leni was taken aback by how wistful Luna sounded as she reminisced. "Heh, it's been so long now that I almost forgot. But what you said before, about...well, about countin' on me, and me not lettin' you down..." The brunette's face contorted as if she'd eaten an entire lemon, her head sagging as she continued, "I...I shoulda had your back when it really mattered all these years, and I dropped the ball. Hard."
'She can't be...' Leni was struck speechless for the first time since her recovery. Was Luna actually apologizing for the part she'd played in her trauma?
Seeing the confusion on her sister's face, Luna mistook it for ignorance as she rambled on. "And just now, in the garage...like, no one else except maybe Linc would have come and checked up on me, at least not when they knew I was probably still mad." She offered a shaky grin to her older sister as she brought her tangent to an end, "to tell the truth, I missed this. Missed us. I guess what I'm tryin' to say is, thanks, sis." Before Leni could escape, Luna sprang forward and wrapped her in a bear hug much the way Leni had done to her during their earlier conversation.
The blonde couldn't bring herself to fight back as she processed everything she'd just seen and heard. 'Is she, like, that desperate to reach out to someone? So desperate she's grabbing onto four year old memories?' The idea should have pleased her, the knowledge that Luna could be so easily manipulated a boon to her plans. As she returned the hug, though, the hate didn't come to her as easily as it had before.
Luna had never really been able — or truly cared — to hide how she felt. That was how Leni had always known her, as an outgoing and impulsive, yet sensitive girl. Knowing everything she did, she knew that the confession she'd just received, as careful as it was not to specifically reference what had happened to her, was an honest expression of her once-closest sister's feelings.
'How dare you...' Tears burned at the corners of Leni's eyes as she grappled with their shared past and present position. 'How dare you say that after like, four fucking years? Would you have ever said it if I didn't break your damned drum?' Ah, there it was. Anger was something she could work with, it was her fuel. It was right. 'I don't remember much from then, but I remember that you, like, didn't even pretend to be interested in me after I went full retard.'
She'd nearly let her guard down, but she was smarter than that now. Smarter than any of them were prepared to handle. That Luna had the nerve to feel like she was the one being held back was all the proof Leni needed that she hadn't truly learned her lesson. But she would, and soon; they all would. Reining in her emotions, she broke the hug and rested a hand on the other teen's shoulder. "'Missed' what? Like, I'm not sure what I missed, but it must have been totally crazy!" She giggled and took joy in the odd mix of relief and panic that entered Luna's face as she trailed off, "you'll have to fill me in sometime..."
"Y-yeah, we've definitely gotta catch back up." There was that feeling again, the one Luna hadn't been able to shake since that morning. They'd shared a moment just now that really took her back to the good old days. In fact, it was so close to how they used to get along that it was too close for comfort. What had possessed her to say those things, things that she hadn't even given much though to for so long? Her heart did a stage dive right into her stomach as she stopped to consider that fact: she really hadn't given Leni much thought after she'd gone under.
It wasn't that she didn't love her sister anymore, even after everything that had happened; hell, their prior relationship had saved Luna from the worst of Leni's predations back then. But the change the pills had wrought on the blonde was a double-edged sword. 'Yeah, she's as nice as she used to be, maybe even more, but at what cost?' The cost of having virtually no idea what any of her family or friends were talking about. She'd tried, she really had in that first year or so, but she just couldn't relate to Leni anymore where her passions were concerned. 'That doesn't mean hers were any less important, though...'
Now more than ever, with such a poignant reminder of how great they'd had it, did Luna regret not working harder to keep that friendship alive. When she considered the strife that was becoming a part of her everyday life where Luan was concerned, and how she barely had anything in common with anyone in the house besides Lincoln and Lynn (and even that was tentative at best), it left her reflecting on what she'd had. What might still be able to be saved. As they returned to the house, the air seemingly clear between them, the last of her frustration over the broken drum was replaced with the hope that its destruction might be the foundation for a reconnection with her sister that she'd sorely missed.
It was a heartfelt desire that would play a crucial role in the reign of terror that was about to begin.
A measure of calm returned to the house that afternoon, with the small army of women and two men (well, one man and a boy) each finalizing their preparations for the week ahead. Lincoln had earned a temporary reprieve from his three-cats-and-mouse game and put it to use planning arrangements with Clyde. "It's even crazier than usual around here, I can't wait to get out of the house for a while."
"Well, here's hoping there's a house to go back to," Clyde responded over the radio. "Lori may be a great leader, the greatest leader even," he swooned, before the snapping of Lincoln's fingers snapped him out of it, "but without you there to keep a lid on things it might boil over pretty quickly."
A satisfied smile wormed its way onto the Loud's face as he assured, "that's one department where there are, like, no worries. In case you've forgotten, there's been a regime change since I had to take over that one night."
"You mean...?"
"That's right, Clyde. The system works."
Lincoln had to hold the walkie at arm's length as a hoot and holler rang out over it. "Yes! I knew logic would prevail over ten girls' emotions!" The other boy cheered, before quickly adding, "uh, don't let them know I said that." The two of them laughed before he continued, "Lincoln, you've got to let me know the next time you're doing it, this could be a landmark case for resolving differences between siblings everywhere! Just think of it, Mr. McBride and Mr. Loud, changing the course of problem solving for families all over the world!"
"Speaking of problem solving, I need your advice, buddy." Lincoln's voice became unusually somber as he considered how best to approach this. He might not be able to talk to anyone in the house about Leni's situation just yet, but surely that didn't extend to anyone on the outside, right? And Clyde was a family friend, so naturally he could be trusted more than anyone else with this information.
"Sure, Lincoln, what's up?"
Deciding at the last moment to conceal names for the sake of peoples' privacy, Lincoln began, "alright, so, say you've known a person for practically your whole life, and they're a pretty great person. You get a long with them, have plenty of fun together, and everything is, like, generally swell. Wouldn't trade it for the world."
"Okaaay..."
"But THEN, something happens, and you find out that that person...isn't the person you think they are. Not just that, but, like, that person is being made to be a different person than they're supposed to be."
"Mhmm..."
"And THEN, that person finds out, like, who they really are, and they tell you and no one else who they really are, and ask you to keep it a secret from everyone else-"
"Lincoln, if this is about me and my dads-"
Recoiling from the radio, Lincoln spluttered, "w-what? No! No, it's not you, Clyde, it's someone here!" Now that he thought about it, he could see how his best friend might get the wrong idea; as vague as he was being, he could just as easily have been talking about their friendship as his and Leni's situation. It didn't come up often, but it was something Clyde had been teased horribly about at school before, and one of the reasons he was so close to Lincoln. Which, of course, led to even more teasing-
"Whew, alright. Sorry man, you had me goin' there for a few seconds. Go ahead."
Getting back on track, Lincoln continued, "no worries, buddy. Anyway, this person is a completely different person than the one you've always known, but in a good way. You can relate to them, and they can relate to you; they're so much more, like, complex than what you ever thought they might be-"
"Are you talking about Leni?"
"Ye-WHAT? I mean, why do you ask?" Lincoln hopped off his bed and ran to the door, listening to make sure no one would respond to his incredulous shout.
There was a moment of silence as Clyde considered his response before finally saying, "well, it was just a guess, really. I just crossed off every sister that you WOULDN'T say that stuff about, then narrowed it down to someone who wasn't 'complex' that suddenly would be." Lincoln was momentarily awed by his friend's deductive skills before he finished off, "plus, you've been saying the word 'like', like, every other word. There's only, like, one other person there who does that, like that I know of. Dang, now I'm doing it too!"
Masking his disappointment at having been uncovered so easily, Lincoln sighed and fell back on his bed. "Yeah, it's Leni. I don't know how much I should say about what happened, but she's completely changed. But no one else seems to have noticed, and they're treating her like she's still...stilll..."
"Like she's, uh, not all there?"
"CLYDE!"
"Sorry, sorry!" Lincoln could hear the radio waving around in his friend's grasp before settling as he said, "I know it's not her fault, but, you know what I mean! The driver's license, the crib, the every word she says-"
"Alright, ALRIGHT!" He hated to get angry at Clyde, but it was more accurate to say that Lincoln was being reminded of how angry he was at himself. Just another reminder of how he'd let his sister down. Taking a deep breath, he admitted, "sorry. The stuff you just said, that's how I used to see her too. But now that I know what she's really like, I just feel like a complete jerk. How do you live with someone your entire life and not notice when something's so wrong with them?" Shaking his head, he asked the question he'd intended in the first place. "What should I do? Do I tell someone else about this, like my parents or sisters, or do I just wait?"
Another quiet moment followed before his friend asked, "is she mad at you?"
"What?"
"Is Leni mad at you?"
"Well, no, at least I don't think so."
"Then I don't think you should be mad at yourself." Clyde said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. Lincoln tried a few times to retort, but the words wouldn't come out right. Was it actually that simple? While he considered that, the boy on the other end went on, "if she knows what she's doing, and she wants to keep it quiet, it sounds like that's probably the best thing to do til she's ready, right? Otherwise it's just gonna confuse everyone. I know I'm definitely confused."
Lincoln thought carefully about the outside perspective he'd just gotten. Leni had made it clear she wasn't angry; far from it, she was grateful to him. He had no reason to doubt her judgement, other than how he felt about her situation. When he thought of it that way, it sounded very...selfish of him, to want to share her business with everyone else. It just reinforced what he already knew, that he didn't know anything about his sister, and had almost done more harm than good.
'Maybe I'm thinking too far ahead. She's only been better for a day now, she'll tell everyone when she's comfortable.' As bad as he felt, it also felt like a burden had been lifted from his shoulders. "You're right, Clyde. Leni knows what she's doing, and the best thing I can do for her right now is trust her." A smile finally worked its way back onto his face as he relieved himself of his self-imposed duty. "Thanks, buddy."
"You're welcome, Lincoln. Besides, I can't leave a bro hanging before we head to the most happening place in the state!" As jarring as it was listening to Clyde try to sound 'hip', Lincoln couldn't help but share his enthusiasm as he knew he was referring to their trip to Royal Oaks and the comic emporium. As the two of them moved on to lighter matters, another member of the household had to attempt to broach a much more urgent matter in much the same way he just had.