As soon as she entered the door, Lori knew something had gone terribly wrong. There was no rock music blaring, no pies being thrown, no dirt bike course constructed throughout the downstairs. "Hello? Leni? Luna? Luan?" There was some shuffling upstairs, followed by the sound of someone practically jumping down the steps. She wasn't left in suspense for long as Luan came barreling toward her, nearly tackling her as she wrapped her arms around Lori and buried her face into her chest.

"Lori!" Said sister was taken aback by the show of affection, and with little other option she returned the embrace. "Thank god you're back, thank you, thank you-"

Prying her unusually clingy sister just far enough away to look her in the eyes, Lori beseeched her, "Luan, get a hold of yourself! I missed you girls too, but I was only gone one night!" The misery on the normally cheerful girl's face told her there was more to it than time spent apart, however. "What's going on? It feels like someone died in here! And what happened to you?!" Luan's expression took on a new sense of urgency at that, and Lori began to genuinely worry before they were both distracted by the sound of another individual on their way down to join them.

As Leni reached the bottom step, her entire body jerked at the sight of Lori and Luan together. While their oldest sister gave her a questioning look, Luan glared at her and turned to face Lori once more, pulling her head down and whispering frantically in her ear. Leni's jaw clenched and adrenaline flooded her veins as she stormed to the door to wedge herself between them and roughly shove the brunette away and into the armchair.

As Luan toppled over the seat with a surprised squawk, Leni rounded on her, only to be stopped by a heavy hand on her shoulder. Eyes darting back to the room's other occupant, her mouth became noticeably dry at the unbridled rage in Lori's eyes. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Don't listen to her, Lori!" Leni pleaded, playing the victim rather well. "She's been causing, like, so much trouble since you left, and I bet she was just now telling you-"

"How much she missed me, and what was going on with Lynn?" Lori stared her sister into submission, and Leni's eyes darted to Luan, who was smirking at her.

That old, familiar bile rocketed through Leni's stomach and into her throat, and she had to choke it down. 'She played me...you goddamn bug...just a bug, that I'm gonna crush.' Shaking her head, she backed away from Lori, who advanced on her in lock-step. "L-Lori, I can explain-"

Hands clenching, Lori belted out out one after another, "explain about just now? Or about your 'relationship'? Or just what the hell you've been doing these past four days?" Leni quickly found herself against the wall next to her parents' bedroom door, and her own hands balled into fists upon being cornered. "Yeah, you've got a lot to explain, and this time you're going to tell me the damn truth. I'm DONE playing games, with literally ALL of you."

Luan was practically beside herself with relief as her unexpected hero of the past several days bore down on the fiend they both knew. Her breathing becoming labored, the mask threatening to give way at any second, Leni played the only gambit immediately available to her. "Maybe we ought to have that conversation after you, like, make yourself presentable." Both Lori and Luan took a moment to ponder on that statement before it became clear that Lori looked just as spent now as she had earlier that morning. The younger of the three blushed wildly, and Lori's face contorted in embarrassment.

Diverting toward the stairs, Lori began her ascent. Stopping halfway, she looked down on Leni and commanded, "our room. One hour. Be there, or I'll PUT you there." With that warning set in stone, she continued into to her room to grab a fresh set of clothes before ending up in the bathroom.

Back in the living room, Leni began to tremble with anger and fear. 'It's too soon...she came back too soon, and Lisa's going to fucking ruin everything...' Gritting her teeth, Leni stormed up to Luan, reaching into a pocket all the while. The other girl fled at her advance, and Luan prepared to shout as Leni raised a fist toward her. That shout died in her throat when the fist opened slightly to reveal a clip of money. "Take this."

Luan stared at the bills, completely baffled by what she was being offered. "W-what is this? Blood money or something? You think I'm going to stay quiet-"

Leni threw the clip at her, striking her in the face with it and nearly hitting her in her damaged teeth. "You ARE going to stay quiet, and I'm going to sort things out with Lori. Consider that collateral. Otherwise, someone else is going to end up as collateral. Get it?"

Against her better judgement, Luan stooped down to collect the money, glancing between it and her sister. "This doesn't change anything."

"It's not supposed to. Now just keep your trap shut and wait here. And put that away, neither you nor I want anyone seeing it." With that, she began her own journey upstairs, leaving Luan to try and figure out just what her game was. Reaching the second floor, she proceeded first to her room, collecting a change of clothes and her secret weapon before continuing into Lincoln's room. She closed the door ever so slightly, leaving just a small crack to listen through. 'The waiting game. Joy...'

Following her shower, Lori wrapped herself snugly in her bathrobe and exited the sauna she'd created to find the twins lurking outside Lucy and Lynn's room. Upon seeing her, Lola fled downstairs, though Lana remained with a worried look etched onto her face. Rolling her eyes at the younger twin's departure, she pushed her way past the older one, who followed silently in her wake. When Luan had told her that Lynn was ill, she had expected the flu, maybe a stomach virus, but this..."What happened to her?"

Lisa and Lucy both acknowledged her as she entered, and she moved to the side of the bed to lay eyes on her sickened sister. Their homegrown athlete extraordinaire, as energetic as the rest of them put together, lay still on her bed; skin pale, sweat plastering her unkempt hair to her head and shoulders, eyes rapidly twitching under the lids. It made Lori sick just to look at her, and she turned toward Lisa, who was positioned next to her equipment and notes. "What's the diagnosis? Were you able to find out what's wrong with her?"

Lisa's mouth formed into a thin line as she double-checked her records before answering, "indeed I wasth. Lynn has taken in a consthiderable, but NOT deadly, amount of oxthalic acid." Lori and Lucys' expressions begged an explanation, and she continued, "a compound that can occur asth a poisthon in cthertain foodsth."

Lori's head fell into her hands. She was sure she already knew the answer, but she needed to hear it from someone else. Lifting it again, she looked to Lana and ordered her, "out. Now. Take Lola and go play."

"No way! I wanna know what's goin' on too, you guys keep making me leave for all the important stuff!"

"Please, Lana, this is important boring grown-up talk. I guarantee you're going to literally be bored to death after a few minutes." The six-year old finally relented, moping out of the room. "And close the door, please." She did as she was asked, and immediately after the door closed Luna left her room to descend downstairs. Leni quietly left her brother's room and stopped just outside Lynn and Lucy's door. Now they could get down to business. "What are some of the foods?"

Referencing her notes, Lisa answered, "the mostht notable of them are parsthley and rhubarb." There it was. The latter of the two was what Leni had sought at the grocery yesterday. Her throat began to constrict at the idea that this might have been...

"People don't get sick from eating rhubarb, though, do they? You can make pie out of it, right?" There might still be an explanation for this, an explanation that Lori desperately needed.

"The sthtalk of the plant isth edible, the toxinsth are located in the leavesth, rather."

Lori's head rose again with a rationalization of what had happened. "That must have been it," she stated with a paradoxical mix of relief and anxiety, "we got some rhubarb yesterday so she could make a pie with Lincoln. She always makes her smoothies with greens, though. That idiot, she must have used the leaves to make it with."

Lisa listened to the story and slowly nodded her head. "That isth very possthible, definitely a 'Leni' moment-"

"No." They both fell silent at Lucy's utterance, and in a display neither of them had seen in ages, she parted her hair to reveal her eyes. The bloodshot orbs stung in the afternoon light, and her brow furrowed over them as she frowned. "There was nothing 'Leni' about this, at least not the way we think of it." Lori's breath hitched as Lisa focused on what she might mean. "Ever since Friday, she's been like a completely different person, and what she did earlier makes me think she meant to do it."

A bloodcurdling fear chased through Lori's veins. "Lucy," she breathed, "that's...that's a really serious accusation."

"I know, and I don't like making it. But listen to me," the goth implored, setting her hands on her knees. "That morning when all of this drama started, I walked in on her in the bathroom. She was talking to herself, talking about 'remembering', and that it 'wasn't fair.'" The eldest sister's eyes widened, and she began to shake imperceptibly as Lucy unknowingly demolished the last of her peace of mind. "She cursed at me, then said she was sorry and ran off with Lincoln. Later that night, I caught her coming back up from the living room with some of Luan's...tapes." She shuddered at the memory, perhaps the only subject where she found common ground with Leni, and continued, "she wasn't talking like herself..."

Lucy paused a moment at the unraveled look on Lori's face before quietly finishing, "everyone who drank something she made last night felt at least a little bit sick. Everyone except her. And she wasn't nearly as worried about Lynn as the rest of us..." She allowed her hair to follow back in front of her face, lest she reveal anymore humanity than she already had. "She did it, Lori. I just know it..."

Lori couldn't bring herself to speak, the weight of what had been happening — what her wilful ignorance had directly resulted in — bearing down on her completely. Lisa took the moment of silence to provide her own evidence. "Justht yesthterday, Lana disthcovered a pill in the bathroom. Leni confronted usth before I could appropriate it, and her hosthtility was uncharacteristhtic in the extreme. Justht earlier, when I went to check Lynn's condition, she sthlapped my hand away to try to sthtop me." Whether through a sixth sense or dumb luck, Leni chose that moment to flee back to Lincoln's room.

'I...oh god, no, I...I couldn't...I DIDN'T...' Lori doubled over, and she lunged from the bed to race for the bathroom, throwing both doors in her path open and throwing herself in front of the toilet to vomit. 'This is how Lynn felt...oh my god, no...' Tears dripped from her face into the sullied water, now that she could no longer deny what she'd known in her heart to be true days ago. 'Sick, irritable, fainting. Planning ahead, stringing me along. God damnit, I just didn't want to believe it...she's not pregnant, she's...she...' Even now it still seemed impossible, but it was the only option left. 'She was withdrawing...'

Somewhere in this house, a beast was waiting for her. A beast that had already harmed one of her sisters...at LEAST one. Luan's injuries and reactions toward Leni flooded her head, and she retched again, heaving the rest of last night's dinner into the commode. She heard voices at her side, though she could barely concentrate enough to distinguish the words. A shock of black and white to the right, and brown and green at the left. Lucy and Lisa offered her their support, but she couldn't bring herself to accept it.

She had failed completely, as a sister and a caretaker. 'They were right...both Lola, and even...even Leni. I've been so caught up in myself, thinking I was the be all, end all in this house...I didn't do anything to make sure she was still 'her'...I left for one night, just to go...to go get fucked, and that was all it took.'

Finally drawing back from the toilet, she rested on her knees, trying to gather herself. Lisa, in an unusual show of concern, took hold of her fingers with her tiny hand. Lucy took her other hand in kind, and she simply breathed. There was going to be a fight, and she wasn't going to win it if she wasn't at her best. "Lucy, Lisa," she spoke quietly but firmly, putting as much of her undeserved authority into her voice as she could. "I need both of you to go to your rooms. Don't come out until I come and get you."

Lisa seemed to understand on some level where this was headed, but Lucy wasn't prepared to just let the talk they were having go. "What do you mean?"

Lori shifted to face her fully, and she set her hands on the eight-year old's shoulders. "I need you to do this for me, alright? For Lynn, too." That seemed to impart a sense of duty to the goth, who silently nodded, and she looked to Lisa as well. "No matter what you hear, don't come out. Alright?" They both nodded, aware that something was about to happen, if not what exactly. She ushered them out of the bathroom and toward their rooms, making sure they were well on their way before she turned to her own. Leni wasn't there. "Of course not." Her roommate had been lurking in their parents' room, as far as she knew, and that seemed the next most likely place.

She entered her room and shut the door, preparing herself for the confrontation about to come. As that door closed, another began to peek open, a figure watching as Lisa entered her room. As the second-youngest sibling began to close the door, a boot shoved itself in the way. Lisa had little time to react as the door was kicked open, backpedaling and falling on her rear as Leni followed and closed the door in a startling imitation of the bathroom incident. "L-Leni-"

"Shut. Your. Mouth." Leni emphasized each word as she kicked the door shut behind her, concentrating all of her anger, all of her rage into a look that could have likely melted lead, or so it felt to her sister.

Lisa looked for an escape, perhaps one of her inventions, but with the power still out her options were woefully limited. Talking it out, then. "What isth thisth about?"

With only a brief window of time to pull this off, Leni fished the pill out from her skirt pocket and held it out for her sister to see. "What this is 'about' is this pill. You wanted it so badly the other day." She grinned savagely as she informed the young poindexter, "well, you got your wish. I'm going to 'give' it to you."

Lisa picked up on the threat immediately, and all bets were off. "LOR-" Leni was upon her before she could even finish shouting the name, however. The teen seized her by the collar of her sweater and lifted her fully into the air, cutting off just enough of her air to silence her.

"Not so fun, is it?" Leni flashed a toothy grin as the four-year old kicked, scratched and attempted to bite her arm. "Being at someone else's mercy does things to you. Makes you think stupid things, like, 'I wish someone would get me out of this,' or 'why is this person doing this to me? What did I ever do to them?'" She threw her sister onto her bed, following immediately after.

Lisa scrambled backward, quickly backed into a corner as she frantically looked for a way out. "We c-can d-d-disthcussth thisth like r-reasthonable, rational women!"

Leni sneered at her, placing her arms on either side of the girl, truly trapping her. "There's only one thing we're going to discuss, and that's, like, how you're going to take this pill."

Accepting that there was no way out, and that this was really happening, Lisa dropped all pretense and sense of superiority. "L-Leni, d-don't do thisth, p-pleasthe," she spoke through a terrible stutter that only appeared when she was truly frightened, like this very moment. "I-I'm s-s-sthorry-"

"Prove it," the blonde demanded. She held the pill between them, both of there eyes locked onto it.

Her heart rate began to reach an unacceptable level, and Lisa curled in on herself, anything to get further away from what she suspected was about to happen to her. "Y-you know thisth is for a-a-adolesthcents and older, r-right? Th-the effect it might have on a f-four-year old—"

Leni's grin shrunk to a sinister smirk as she delivered the line she'd been waiting to use since Friday night. "Think of it as...an experiment."

There would be no mercy, Lisa realized. The toddler began to hyperventilate, and her fear completely overwhelmed her in a more visceral sense as she quite literally lost control of her functions. "L-Leni, p-pleasthe..." Tears sprang to her eyes as she wet herself, body quaking.

Snarling in disgust, Leni could have slapped her, but she chose to take the high road. She roughly grabbed Lisa's hand and forced the blue capsule into it. Anticipating the girl would try to get rid of it immediately, she warned, "You can either take it yourself, or I can make you. And if I have to make you, everyone else is going to pay for it. Starting from the bottom up." She gave a meaningful look to Lily's crib, and it finally broke the terrified genius's resolve. Tears and snot running down her face, Lisa drew her hand back and looked at the accursed object. "You know, you ought to be grateful; I'm giving you something that, like, no one else ever gave me."

"A choice."

Lori knocked on the door, and received no answer. Waiting for a moment, she knocked again, and still nothing. Putting an ear to the surface, she couldn't hear any machines humming or scribbled writing; not even Lily making a scene. Going for the doorknob, she found it locked. "She wouldn't be asleep this early, would she?" It wasn't unheard of per se for Lisa to take a nap during the day, but that typically only occurred if she was sick or getting there. "Well, at least she's kind of listening to what I said."

"Not enough time for it right now." She traced her steps back to the stairs, before making a pitstop by Luna and Luan's room. Empty. Returning to the stairs, she descended slowly, and it seemed they weren't on the first floor either. 'Alright, I'm going this alone...' Before she knew it, she was standing in front of her parents' bedroom door. Waiting for her on the other side wasn't a guardian, though, but a devil.

'You've got this, Lori. You've handled Leni before...' Even so, knowing what the stakes were, she still wasn't sure if she'd be able to follow through this time. She hadn't had to do a knock-down, drag-out fight against one of her siblings for four years now. Leni constantly exercised, as well. Despite having an age advantage, Lori knew her opponent had the strength advantage. 'I've just gotta fight smart...' Swallowing her doubts, she knocked on the door.

From the other side, she heard a muffled shout. "It's unlocked."

Steeling herself, Lori opened the door, entered quickly, and closed and locked it behind her. Eyes adjusting to the light, any last remaining doubts were erased from her mind as she gazed upon her younger sister in all her glory. Clad in her new 'old' outfit, Leni had her hands folded on her lap, one leg crossed over the other under her skirt. "Lori."

"Leni."

They took a short moment to size each other up. Lori knew Leni would still be smarting from her fall, but she couldn't rely on it; Leni always resorted to dirty tactics sooner or later. "So, you've been busy these past few days." She couldn't betray any weakness, and that included any pauses or faults in her speech.

"Oh, you know how it is," Leni shrugged, "I had, like, plenty to catch up on. You know, the little things, like having two new sisters." She watched carefully for any flinch, any chink in her big sister's armour. Nothing.

Brow furrowing and lips curling downward, Lori replied, "let's not pretend there isn't a reason you had 'catching up' to do in the first place. In fact, you seem a little tense right now. Why don't we get you a chill pill?" Leni's eyes narrowed; the first move in their game.

Snorting, Leni made a show of examining her nails. "Why fix what's not broke? I'm cool as a corsage. Besides, there aren't any pills in this house. Not anymore. I think it's better if, like, people act the way they're supposed to."

"The way some people act isn't good for other people."

"Maybe those people need to understand that people act the way they do for a reason."

This was getting nowhere fast, and Lori began to succumb to her infamous temper. "What does someone have to do to deserve being poisoned? Or thrown around? Or any of the other shit you did to them, to me, when we were kids?"

Leni gave her a big smile as she answered, "the same things that're going to get rid of our parents and remind all of you why I treated you that way in the first place."

Breathing heavily, the eldest sister stood her ground despite every instinct to begin the fight right now and put an end to this. Taking a page from the notebook of the very girl in front of her, she warned, "I'm giving you one chance to bring it off, Leni. Take your pills and make up for what you've done."

Leni stared at her for all of a few seconds before bursting out laughing, a shrill noise that scraped Lori's eardrums. "What a riot! This is LITERALLY you right now: 'do something horrible to yourself, or I'm going to do it for you.'" Calming down, she blessed her sister with a most condescending look as she declared, "you're as bad as I am, if not worse. The only difference is that I never dressed what I did up as some holier-than-thou 'tough love' older sister bullshit." Lori's compoure began to crumble under the barrage, just as she'd hoped. "I hurt people because they hurt me, Lori. Because they deserve it. You deserve it. ALL of you, except Lincoln and Lily."

"Leni-"

"NO," the younger sister shouted. "You're not going to stand here and lecture me. You, who let all of this happen on your watch, who lost your mind and went ballistic on everyone because you lost your precious fucking phone. You're even more petty than I am, a selfish, entitled bitch. And I'm going to make everyone see you for what you are."

At her limit, Lori slowly advanced toward the girl. Leni didn't move from her seat, though, and she wasn't sure what to make of it. One of them had to make the first move, however, and it clearly wasn't going to be the younger of the two. Waiting one beat, then two, Lori vaulted toward her, her objective to get Leni on the ground as soon as possible. It seemed Leni had the same idea, though; as Lori grabbed hold of her, Leni threw all of her weight back, sending the armchair flipping backward and taking both of them with it. Leni used the momentum to throw Lori into the wall, rolling over and pouncing on her sister.

Wrapping one arm around her bucking opponent's waist, Leni began slamming a fist into the back of her head. "Just make this easier on both of us. Stay. DOWN." as she came in for another blow, Lori ducked her head and reached up behind her, taking the incoming arm and pulling it further along to send Leni toppling over the other side. On her back, Leni fought to stop Lori from mounting her, and it devolved into a grapple with a great deal of scratching and hair-pulling, the occasional hay maker flying as well.

As she feared, though, Lori didn't possess the sheer strength or endurance that Leni did. It didn't help that she'd spent her energy the previous night, either. Leni managed to get her legs around Lori and used her elbows to throw herself up, putting Lori on her back. Before her sister could control her arms, Lori wrapped one around her and pulled herself up, using the other to deliver several solid punches to Leni's bruised tailbone. Leni shrieked and began boxing Lori's ears until finally both of them collapsed, the latter gripping her head while the former rolled away and assumed a defensive position.

Both of them were winded, and each eyed the other like a piece of meat now that they had a moment to recover. "Not bad, considering you let yourself go for so long. I'm surprised you can move that fast with that fat ass," Leni growled, rubbing at her thrice-punished back.

"You too...I guess an animal...doesn't forget its instincts, huh?" They'd always had a rapport during their fights, no matter how hateful they became, and now was no different. Lori could hardly speak between taking deep breaths, though, and it was clear to both of them how it would end at this rate.

Leni, however, wouldn't settle for just kicking her big sister's ass; that was too easy. No, her victory needed to be complete. "I'm glad you can give me a challenge, Luan and Lynn sure didn't. Then again, Lynn never got the chance." Lori had to stop herself from diving back in right there. Laughing humourlessly, she added, "and don't even get me started on Lisa." THAT got the reaction she'd wanted, as Lori's entire posture seized up. "Like taking candy from a baby. Or giving it, in this case."

"Leni, no..." Lori's voice gave way as she contemplated the damage that could have been done to their second-youngest sister, the damage that had already been done to two others. Her voice hoarse, barely above a whisper, she asked, "what did you do to Lisa?" The anxiety that had hung over her like a funeral shroud since returning home bled into that same fear and shame from before, knowing that he could have prevented this before it even began. 'All the warning signs were there, and I just...I couldn't...'

Her stomach churned as Leni's eyes lit up and a little smirk appeared. "I'm kind of proud of it, honestly," the younger sister admitted as though it was some humble act to be talked up, "I watched those tapes our joke of a sister took of that little...THING, performing her experiments on me." Her confidence began to return now that Lori had literally been brought to her knees, and she weathered the blows and bruises she'd just received in kind as she sneered, "she seemed like she was having so much fun. You ALL had fun, didn't you?" She drew as close as she believed possible without risking another brawl and looked down her nose at her vanquished foe. "Treating me like an idiot, or a child, or a fucking animal to be played with."

The elder sister raised her head to look upon her closest friend for the past sixteen years, now her most bitter enemy once again. Despite everything that they'd been through in the past — everything that had just taken place in the past four days — her heart still broke anew as she watched the tears roll down Leni's face. As furious as she was with her sister at that moment, as disgusted as she was with herself, she couldn't deny the accusations that spilled forth. Her mouth moved, an attempt to say anything to salvage what they'd had until so recently, but the words wouldn't come. It wouldn't take long for fury to win out, though, as Leni had no such reservations.

"Well, I gave it back as good as I got it, Lori. As far as Lisa's concerned, I guess you could say, like, I gave her a taste of MY own medicine." Lori's jaw dropped, a counterpoint to the cruel grin that marred her sister's face. "Poetic justice, I think it's called, right? Gotta give Lucy credit for that one." In her arrogance, she leaned dangerously close to her crestfallen opponent, lost in the moment as she smugly informed her, "speaking of whom, she's nex-"

The words flew through the air as fast as her head as Lori snatched her by her collar and thrust the top of her head directly into Leni's face. Using the momentum to stand again, she grabbed the shellshocked girl by her hair and flung her to the side where she crashed into the dresser, sending a number of the objects on top raining down upon her. Lori loomed over her, prepared to kick her into submission if she moved so much as an inch. "You're not going to lay a finger on another one of them, Leni. This is over. YOU'RE over." She cautiously backed toward the door as her little sister tracked her every motion with unyielding focus.

Leni used the dresser to support her as she got to her feet, her knees shaking from the exertion. Just as she'd expected, Lori was no pushover, and it was clear now that she wasn't going to win a fair fight. Brushing a strand of hair out of her face, she huffed, "so what now? Are you gonna go tattle on me to mommy and daddy? Get Luna and Luan to help you do your dirty work again?" She spat at Lori, the shot coming up just short. "You're as sad now as you were before. You'll never be able to do anything on your own, and that includes putting me in my place." She bit off the final word, and hoped Lori would rise to the occasion.

Lori bared her teeth and tensed her arms, and Leni prepared to receive her assault, but after a moment the elder sister loosened up again and continued her fighting retreat. 'Don't do it, that's what she wants,' she reminded herself. She'd gone down this road enough times in the past to know that Leni ALWAYS had a trick up her sleeve, even when it looked like she was down for the count. She finally found the door, and she unlocked it, slowly turning the knob. 'I just need to get a hold of Luna and Luan, the three of us can keep her under control.' Opening the door, she quickly spun and prepared to make a run for it. Instead, she found her path blocked by a shaking Lucy, who stumbled back at being found out. "Lucy?!"

"Lori, I'm sorry-"

Lori flew face first into the floor as Leni bull rushed her from behind. Lucy drew back in horror as her oldest sister scrambled to get upright again. Not allowing her the chance, Leni quickly spotted Lori's left ankle still within the threshhold of the door. She grabbed the door and slammed it shut with as much force as she could, crushing Lori's foot in the process. The older girl screamed, and Lucy watched in frozen fear as Leni threw the door open again, grabbing Lori by her injured leg and dragging her back in before slamming it shut and locking it.

She tried with all her might to regain her bearings, but she'd been denied all advantage now. Leni took her by her hair and collar and threw her onto her back, before grabbing an arm and throwing her again onto her chest. For the finishing blow, the younger girl brought her knee down into Lori's back, expelling the air from her lungs and preventing her from drawing the precious breath needed to continue the fight. Panting with exertion and high on adrenaline, Leni grabbed her forearms, crossed them over one another and began to force them up, rendering Lori completely helpless with agonizing pain.

"Game over."

"Come ON, Luna. What are we doing out here?" Luan had asked several times now, and once more she was answered with a disturbing silence. Her roommate had come downstairs and fetched her not long after Lori had arrived back home, and she'd hoped that Luna was going to share a plan for how to deal with Leni with her. Instead, her sister hadn't uttered a single word as she led her out to the garage, and she eventually found herself sitting on a box of their mother's old clothes. "Are you mad at me again?"

Luna, leaning against the threshold of the garage door, opened her eyes halfway to acknowledge her companion with an ominous scowl. "Not yet. What do you know about what's been going on with Leni these past few days?"

The younger of the two flew to her feet as if the hounds of hell were at her heels. "You KNOW?! She's off her meds, Luna, she, she's back to her old self!" She cleared the distance between them in record time to grasp Luna's shirt, panic clearly writ on her face. "Last night, she attacked me in the basement! She said she was going to hurt everyone else, too, even LILY! We have to go back inside and help Lori, we-" her frantic pleas were cut short as the taller girl roughly shoved her, sending her tumbling back and onto her junk throne she'd create several days past. "W-what are you doing?!" Luna didn't answer her, turning instead to grab the the bottom lip of the door. "L-Luna?"

The elder Loud forcefully brought the door down with an echoing crash, shrouding them in darkness save for the light streaming in through the door's windows. "Lor and Len've got their biz to settle," Luna muttered, "and so do you and me."

Dumbstruck, Luan willed herself to get back up and smack some sense into her sister, but her body wouldn't obey. "What...what are you SAYING? Is this a joke?! If it is, let me tell you, it's not a real knee-slapper!" She pointed to her previously inflicted injuries, only to look up in time to see the rocker directly in front of her.

Luna was upon her before she could react, patting her down and batting away her arms when she tried to resist. "Luna, stop! NO!" The elder girl finally grabbed both of her wrists and pinned them above her head, holding them there with one hand while continuing her frisk. Luan yelped at the pressure on her sprained wrist, but her new adversary didn't let up in the slightest. Finally Luna felt what she was looking for through her skirt, and reached in to withdraw the clip of money Leni had given Luan just an hour or so before.

Already bewildered at the turn of events, Luan became fearful at the fury on her sister's face. "So, Lu," Luna growled, "you must've been doing a lot of parties lately to pick up this kind of dough, yeah?"

Cold reality splashed the comedienne in the face at what was going on. "W-wait, let me explaiiiAAOW!" She cried out as Luna tightened her grip, pocketing the money before curling her now-free hand into a fist.

"I get that you don't really got any respect for me or my thing, and that's fine," Luna spat, unclenching her hand and grabbing her sister by the chin, "because I don't got any for you or yours either. But this...this is pretty fuckin' low, even for you." Luan tried to speak, to defend herself, but found her response cut off by the rocker's hand. "First you get my drum broken, then you steal the money Len gave me to replace it. Are you gonna spend two-hundred dollars on another bleedin' toy?"

Finally shaking her head free, Luan shouted, "NO! It's not like that! Leni, she gave me that money, just before you brought me out here! I TOLD YOU, she's not on her meds anymore, she-"

"I know."

"-she, she's...you...you what?" Luan's voice trailed to a whisper at the end, completely unbelieving of what she'd just heard. 'I didn't hear that, she didn't SAY that-'

"I know, Lu. She and I had a good talk about it earlier." The hatred on Luna's face levelled off to an unreadable expression. "Our sis is back. The real her. The only one who ever gave me any due." Her lip began to tremble once more with barely restrained anger as she gnashed her teeth. "The one you guys took away from me."

If one listened carefully, they might hear a sound like a wire snapping; the last of Luan's rationality and restraint. Struggling mightily against her sister's hold on her, she howled, "what is WRONG WITH YOU?! She hurt me, she probably hurt Lynn, god only KNOWS what she's doing in there right NOW! I didn't steal your money, you idiot, she GAVE it to me, to turn you against me or something! And you FELL for it!" She tried to kick out at the girl holding her down, but Luna simply interposed herself between her legs.

The elder girl clenched her hand again and delivered a punch to Luan's already-tender stomach, halting her diatribe immediately. She then reached up to grip her sister by the throat, exerting just enough pressure to quiet her down and control her intake of air. "You think I'm an idot, eh? Even if I wanted to believe you, no one else woulda known where to look for something I hid in there. No one else woulda had the time. Besides," she leaned in close enough for Luan to feel her breath on her face, "she doesn't need to turn me against you. I'm already there, bab. You and Lori both need knocked down a peg."

Luan had stopped struggling halfway through her roommate's villain monologue, having learned her lesson from the previous night. After being treated this way by two sisters in two days, a sort of calm finally came over her. Luna's grip on her neck loosened, as she'd hoped, and when her new tormentor leaned in to continue taunting her she threw her head forward to attempt the headbutt again. This time she connected, sending Luna stumbling back, and she shot up and forward to shove her sister away. Frantically looking for an out, she spotted the other door leading out of the garage and made a break for it. Luna recovered quickly, though, and gave chase.

Reaching the door, Luan tried the handle, but it wouldn't budge in the slightest. 'Someone's about to go to the school of hard knocks in a second, and it's not gonna be me again.' She didn't have time to take heart in her sense of humour kicking back in, instead kicking the door to try and dislodge it. For her efforts she was rewarded with a painful jolt from her foot all the way to her bruised knee. The sounds of boots thudding closer toward her overrode the pain, though, and she dodged to the side to avoid an attempted grab by Luna. Putting as much space and as many obstacles as she could between them, she shouted, "Luna, STOP! Just listen to me!"

The brunette, stamping like a riled bull, nursed her injured nose as she stared her prey down. "Talk's cheap, Lu. Now c'mere." Despite her muffled and nasal tone, the other girl didn't doubt the danger she was still in for a second. Whether or not Luan was going to comply, she began to advance more carefully, and they circled each other around the various objects and implements in the room.

Her nerves momentarily showing through, Luan's eyes began to sting with tears. "Why are you doing this, Luna? You remember what she did to us, what she's doing to us now! Lori's alone in there with her, we need to be there for her!" Of course she wasn't actually alone, but how were Lucy, the twins or Lisa going to help her? Their oldest sister had been their defender in the past, and they'd have to rely on her again.

"Speak for yerself. She never did a thing to me, and she hasn't since she got over'em." Luna leaped over her pile of junk, just missing her sister. "After what you guys did to her all these years, I don't blame her." Fed up with the chase, she began shoving aside everything in her path, carving out a path to her target. "You most of all. You went out of your way to screw with her, it wasn't enough that we made her into a freakin' idiot."

"I keep telling you, it wasn't like that," Luan denied, her options becoming severely limited, "I messed with her because she's the only one who even cared enough to pay any attention to what I was doing!" She found herself backed into a corner, and she began frantically searching the walls and tables for anything to defend herself with.

Closing in on her prey, Luna savoured the moment, advancing slowly. "Why do you think that is? Is it maybe cuz no one cared what you were doin'? You coulda stopped anytime, tried somethin' else, but you just kept pushing your schtick on everyone. Don't complain when you get pushed back."

Her hand finding purchase on something smooth and heavy, Luan wrenched her hand up to wield a small shovel. She swung it in an arc in front of her, sending a wide-eyed Luna stumbling back a step. "Stay away from me," she demanded, "just leave me alone."

Adopting a defensive posture, Luna cautiously answered, "no can do, sis. You're not gonna use that thing, and I don't need to make you try. If you wanna get out of this garage, you're gonna have to set it down sooner or later."

Luan considered her words and found them to be true. 'I'm not getting out of here unless I go through her.' She really didn't want to hurt her sister, though, despite what she was doing to her. She quickly glanced toward the door again, and Luna took the opportunity to charge her, pinning her to the wall with the handle. "Ugh, NO! Let me GO!" She tried to throw a haphazard punch at the rocker, but her arms were largely pinned at her sides or directly in front of her.

"Just pack it in, Lu," Luna urged her, holding her steady against the wall, "all we've gotta do now is wait a bit."

With a frustrated cry, Luan resigned herself to her fate, when an act of providence finally threw her a bone. A loud crash rattled the walls and workbenches, and they both looked toward the now-open side door, through which a scattered ray of sunlight beamed. Wagering it all, Luan set one foot against the wall, grabbed the shovel handle and used it as leverage to lift her other leg up. With both legs braced against the wall, she pushed herself forward with all her strength, sending herself flying onto Luna and Luna hurdling toward the floor. Rolling off of her dazed sister, she made a break for the door, not looking back for anything.

Making it outside, she heard footsteps in hot pursuit and rounded the corner toward the driveway. Her legs, already strained, couldn't keep up with her any longer though, and she veered to the side and into the same tricycle Leni had backed into previously. Luna wouldn't reach out to save her this time, instead letting Luan fall hard onto her already-bruised knees before circling around and grabbing her sister.

"Game over."

As the door slammed and locked, Lucy trembled at what she'd just heard and seen. Everyone in the house fought, it was only to be expected between ten children old enough to argue, but Lori and Leni had savaged each other. And by any measure, it didn't seem to be over yet. Forcing herself forward, she returned to the door and pounded on it. "Lori! LENI!" Placing her ear to the door, she could hear the struggle continuing, a few thuds against the floor followed by a pained gasp. "Luan! LUNA!" They were nowhere to be found, and with Lynn as ill as she was, she wouldn't be able to help either.

'Was Leni really going to come after me...?' Leni hadn't sounded as though she was bluffing, and the revelation that she'd been responsible for hurting Lynn shattered any lingering doubt. 'But now Lori's trapped in there with her...where is everyone? Lincoln isn't home yet, he could stop her...maybe.'

With few other options, she briefly considered attempting to enter the room and help Lori herself. 'Two against one's got to be better than nothing. Lori was already down, though...how would I even get in, the vents? Wait...the vents!' Accepting that she would likely be more of a liability to her sister than any help, there was one thing she could do, and that was gather information on what was happening in the first place. Taking a play out of her brother's handbook, she booked it up the stairs and into the bathroom, closing the door as quietly as she could. Hurrying to the vent under the sink, she listened for any words or sounds originating from their parents' bedroom...

A floor below, a thick drop of blood fell onto Lori's shirt from Leni's bleeding nose, the younger sister grinding her knee even further into her opponent's back. The pinned girl tried to cry out, but the pressure on her torso and the stress position her arms had been placed in only allowed her the slightest of shallow, ragged breaths.

Determined to prevent her sister from challenging her again, Leni pulled each of Lori's outstretched arms even more tightly behind her back, forcing them ever further up and opposite their normal orientation. The pain became unbearable within seconds, and tears freely fell from Lori's eyes as her shoulders began to grind and strain under the pressure.

"You're pathetic," Leni sneered, trying to remain steady as Lori's legs thrashed and kicked behind her, "like, what happened to the big bad Lori that we were always afraid of? What happened to the you that used to 'literally' turn us into human pretzels?" Where the eldest sibling had employed a variation of the technique to pick on her siblings in the past, it was a far cry from the version that the sixteen-year old was making use of now. "I could dislocate both your shoulders right now, probably worse. I SHOULD do it."

Pressing her cheek against the floor, Lori tried to look back at her attacker. "L-Leni," she wheezed, "don't...don't..."

With a pout, the victor decided that perhaps some mercy was in order. "Alright, listen up. I'm going to, like, ease up for a second," she leaned forward slightly to whisper in a morbidly soothing tone, "if you try anything, I'll ruin you. And not just your arms, either." Slowly, carefully, she relaxed her grip and allowed the other girl's arms back to a somewhat normal position. She kept her knee in place to maintain control of the counterattack she knew was coming and began fiddling with the belt around her waist.

Right on cue, Lori pulled her wrists free of Leni's hand and tried to wrap her legs around her from behind. She was at a severe disadvantage though from the check on her back, the lack of air and her arms reacting sluggishly to the rigor they'd just been subjected to. Leni seized her by the hair on the back of her head and drove her headfirst into the floor, a weak yelp echoing through the room.

Getting the belt free, the younger sister took Lori's weakly struggling arms once more and bound her wrists behind her back as tightly as she could manage before using the leverage to return them to their former position. She amplified the force considerably, and relished the way Lori's head began swinging wildly from side to side. "Like, what did I JUST tell you? You just do not know how to listen, do you?" She continued pushing her victim's arms up until she could feel them reach their absolute limit, and Lori's entire body began bucking beneath her. "Well, you know what they say about the burnt hand." She forced them that extra bit further, and her sister managed despite her position to howl in agony as her shoulders reached the verge of popping out of place.

Both of them became sick, for very different reasons. The all-consuming pain set Lori to retching for the second time that day, but she had nothing left to give after her revelation earlier. For Leni, the thrill of victory was followed almost immediately by the bile she'd come to know and expect the past several days. This time, however, there was no joy, no vindication in what she'd done.

"You idiot...I didn't want to do that," Leni mumbled, hands clutching at her stomach, "I warned you, you made me do that." She rose from the floor, backing away from Lori's sobbing form. Finally free, her older sister curled in on herself as best she could, before crying out again as she rolled onto one of her ravaged shoulders. "Why couldn't you just listen? Why don't any of you just LISTEN?"

Lori didn't have the wherewithal to answer her, her head consumed with the feeling of raw nerves set aflame radiating from her spine and arms. The desire to fight back all but forgotten, her main drive became to find a comfortable position in which to wallow in defeat. 'Why? why, why, why-' the question looped over and over in her head, too many questions to focus on just one at the moment.

Why did it have to hurt so much? Why did she allow herself to end up in this position? Why had she decided to fight Leni, rather than call their parents or the police or ANYONE better qualified to handle what was going on in this house? There was a convenient answer to all of those questions, an answer Leni had helpfully supplied her with just now. 'Because I'm a fucking idiot', she internally berated herself, trying to focus on anything other than the searing heat in her shoulders. 'I had to be the hero...I just wanted to make up for being a complete screw-up, and look where it got me...'

Leni picked up on the inner turmoil through her sister's writhing, and she finally became confident that Lori presented no further threat to her at that moment. Having achieved the complete victory she was seeking, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and sat heavily upon the bed, lifting a hand up to tweak her nose. Confirming that it wasn't broken, she warily eyed Lori as the older girl began to settle into a pained torpor on the ground. "Now that that's done with, we can finally talk. You're going to listen this time, right?" Her vanquished foe turned her head away, but made no other attempt to move. "Good enough."

Placing her hands on her knees, Leni considered how to proceed. Now that the confrontation had come and gone, it occurred to her that she wasn't even sure what to do now that she'd won. With Lori out of the way, her next major enemy would be her parents, but they wouldn't even be returning for five days. 'Unless someone gets a hold of them before then,' she noted. It would dim her prospects considerably if they made it back before she made arrangements to deal with them, meaning it would become crucial to control all contact her siblings had with each other and anyone on the outside from this point forward.

Gathering up the various phones in the house would be a simple enough task, but she'd need help to stop the sisters from conspiring with each other. 'That's where Luna and Lola come in. As long as I can keep that little brat happy, she should keep me up to date. Not sure about the other one, though...' New rooming arrangements would help to control their access to each other. 'I can just keep this room, and Lori should still be find in hers. Hmmm...I don't want Luna with Luan anymore, maybe she can switch with Lucy, or take Lisa's room. Maybe have Lily stay with Lincoln...Lincoln. LINCOLN.'

Her heart seized in her chest upon imagining his reaction to what he'd be coming home to...coming home that very day. As forgiving as he'd been of her taking Lori's phone, beating down both her and Luan while poisoning Lynn and drugging Lisa might be just a hair past his limits. 'Ugh, I got so wrapped up in keeping them on a leash that I completely forgot he was off of it.' Worse than his feelings about her, however, was the likelihood that he would take their side when they eventually came after her, and there was no doubt that they would. "He wouldn't turn on me, though...he's, like, the only person who understands..."

A flicker of movement in the corner of her eye drew her attention to a wide-eyed Lori staring at her, anxiety writ on her face. Leni shot up from the bed, snarling as her body tensed for another go. "What?" Her bound sister tried to edge away from her, coming up short as the adrenaline and shock from their encounter gave way to fatigue and nerve-wracking pain. "WHAT?"

Throat constricting, tongue suddenly dry, Lori managed to choke out, "stay away from him...you stay away from them." That maternal instinct welled up from within her and overpowered her better judgement. "Lincoln, all of the kids, they didn't do anything to you," Leni's threat against Lucy just a short while ago goaded her to continue, "don't you lay a finger on them."

["Get away from them, Leni!"]

["Don't you go near them right now, young lady!"]

Face screwing in anger, hands gripping her head, Leni wailed, "get out...get OUT..." Lori began to shake as she advanced on her, settling the tip of her boot next to her prone sister's head much like she had with Luan the night before. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" She lifted her foot and slammed it down next to Lori's head, sending the other girl rolling away and whimpering in pain from the exertion. Leni didn't follow her, but her eyes did, eyes filled with fear and hatred. "You and Luna, like, always listening, always watching...well now I'm the one watching all of you. And as soon as I see the chance, I'm going to give the rest of them what's coming." A sick, crooked smile split her face. "And there's 'literally' nothing you can do to stop me."

Lori knew that look, and it was easily the most frightening thing she'd witnessed throughout this ordeal. 'God, no, she's falling apart NOW?' When all the cards were on the table, Leni was fairly predictable if she was in a stable state of mind, relatively speaking; it was possible to reason with her. If she slipped completely over the edge, though, there was no telling how far she would go. "No, LENI! Whatever you're going to do, do it to me! They didn't do this to you, I did!"

What few of them realized was that Lori hadn't so much defended them in the past as make sure they didn't need defending in the first place. If Leni was starting to get agitated, she would egg her on until finally the younger girl would vent her anger at her, rather than the others. It wasn't a foolproof method, but it had helped to conceal just how poorly Leni had been faring before that party...now, she'd have to attempt it once more.

Breathing heavily, Leni's nerves levelled off enough for her to look contemptuously at Lori. "Like, really? You're playing the 'kill me, not them' card? Were you the one who scared me stupid and made fun of me for years like Lucy and Luan did? Were YOU the one who completely threw away everything we had or never bothered to make something in the first place like Luna and Lynn did? Don't worry, you've definitely got the worst coming your way, but you're ALL responsible."

"Those things all happened, yeah," Lori agreed, "but only because I let them. I could have made them treat you better, but I didn't." There was more truth in those words than she'd ever cared to acknowledge before now. "I just didn't think-"

Leni laughed, a harsh barking noise, before looking down her nose at her captive. "You got that right. You don't think, and you never have. That's not the point, though." She ambled over to Lori's side, crouching down next to her older sister. "You shouldn't have had to make them do a thing. What kind of person needs someone to make them treat someone else with some decency?" She roughly grabbed a handful of Lori's hair and shook her head back and forth. "Well, I'll tell you what kind of person it takes to make them decent in the first place. It's me."

Leni was prepared to continue her taunting, but an unexpected noise cut into their quality time: the sound of her phone ringing. Two pairs of eyes drifted to her pocket, where the offending object pierced the heated air between them with a tacky pop song. Leni's eyes slid back to Lori, who met her gaze before averting her own, and the younger sister huffed as she stood up and fished the electronic out. Bringing up the call screen, she recognized the name Holly. 'One of my 'friends', eh?' She quickly tapped the 'Ignore' button and rounded on her sister once more, only for the same music to come blaring a few seconds later.

Grinding her teeth, she answered the call before answering in as sweet a voice as she could muster, "y'ello?"

"LENI! Like, omigosh, I finally got a hold of you! I've been trying to call you since the other night!"

'What am I supposed to say to her?' Glancing side to side as if a sign would be there for her convenience, the Loud coolly responded, "well, the power's been out since last night, but I don't know why that would have stopped-"

"Oh, it's no biggie! Anyway, Jen and I wanted to see how you were doing after...well, you know, what happened on Friday. She feels totally guilty about it, and I do too, y'know?"

Leni had to focus on that day, working her way back from her talk with Lincoln. "Right, at school, I remember. Like, it wasn't your fault, I've just got-" she zeroed in on Lori, who was watching her like a hawk "-a lot to deal with right now. Actually, you think I could call you back later? We could totes plan something for this weekend-"

"The thing is," Holly's voice dripped with eager enthusiasm, "we're in town right now, and wanted to know if you want to come to the mall with us? We could swing by and pick you up in a few minutes!"

The phone nearly fell out of Leni's hand, and she had to juggle it momentarily. "N-no, no, that's alright," she quickly assured, "like, I don't even have any money to spend right now. You remember last time, right?" She desperately hoped there was a 'last time'.

"Pssh, we got your back, babe!" A new voice nearly drowned out the first one — Jennifer. "I just got an advance from my folks for not embarrassing myself on all those tests we had to take right before break. It's my treat!"

As generous as her friends seemed to be, their third wished they would be so generous as to leave her alone. "Really, today's not a good day. Our parents are in, like, Hawaii or something and I have watch everyone while Lori's out with Bobby." She directed a look at her sister that bespoke even worse pain than she'd recently received if she made a scene. "Tomorrow, maybe? Oh wait, Lily, WAIT!" As her voice cracked, she ended the call, hoping they would take a hint. Heaving a long-suffering sigh, she acknowledged Lori with a wry grin. "It's not easy having a social life, not that you'd know."

Lori simply glared at the barb, another throwback to the arguments they got into in middle school. No one had ever accused Lori Loud of being a social butterfly, and in some ways she preferred it that way, Leni had made up for both of them.

"Now, where were we?" Leni began to close the distance again, before slamming a foot onto the ground as her phone rang for a third time. Whipping it to her mouth, she answered and yelled, "what do you WANT?!"

"I...L-Leni? I'm sorry, we can talk later." Her heart may as well have plummeted to the center of the earth at the hurt in her brother's voice.

The phone shaking in her hand again, she lowered her voice several octaves, "no, no, I'm sorry, Lincoln, please don't hang up." Lori's head bolted up from where it had been lying, and Leni took notice, a spiteful scowl overcoming her face as she set the phone to speaker. "Sorry, Lincoln, I didn't mean to yell at you. Is everything alright?"

"Well...everything's great for me, we're just now getting back into town. What about you, though? Is everything alright?"

"Oh, Lincoln...it's been awful," she despaired, "I just, like, don't know what else I should have done..."

"Leni," he began hesitantly, "did you talk to everyone about...about you? About what happened?"

"I-I'm sorry, Lincoln," and she really was, to a certain extent. Sorry he was getting caught up in her mess again. "Everyone knows now that I'm back to being me. Luna was there to help me, but Lori and Luan...they wanted to put me back, and they got Lisa to help them."

Awkwardly hopping to her knees, Lori shouted, "LINCOLN! DON'T LIS-"

That was as far as she got before Leni settled a boot on her chest and rammed her back into the dresser. Covering the phone and her brother's worried inquiries with one hand, she closed the distance with her downed sister and delivered two sound kicks to her gut before Lori could curl up to defend herself.

"Was that Lori? Leni, what's going on?" He was beginning to raise his voice, and it came as nails on chalkboard to Leni's ears.

"They...they hurt me, Lincoln. Just like they did before." She didn't try to hide the emotion in her voice, and in fact channelled it by fixating on her rebellious sister. "Luna and I had to fight them, to try and make them understand. But they don't want to listen, Lincoln, they don't...they don't want ME..."

There was silence save for the sound of breathing on the other end for a few moments before he declared, "I'll be home soon, Leni. We'll set this straight. They just need time to see it, and we'll help them see it together."

Where her heart had fallen like a star before, it began a meteoric rise back into her throat at the affection with which he spoke, the genuine love. "You're right...you're right. We'll do it together, Linc. Thank you," she murmured, feeling content for the first time since he'd left. She spun around, her current situation somewhat lost to her.

"Just hang in there, sis. I've gotta hop off the phone now, but it'll be just a little bit longer," he assured her. Her back turned, Leni didn't notice as Lori began to recover, staring in disbelief at the exchange.

"I will, Lincoln. You don't have to rush for me, though. Luna's looking out for me too." As she prepared to hang up, she felt compelled to add, "I love you, Lincoln."

Taken aback, Lincoln's embarrassment carried clear through the phone . "I love you too, Leni," he warmly replied, "I'll see you guys soon."

The conversation ended, and Leni held the phone to her heart for a moment before being drawn back to the present. She turned again, and drank up the horror on Lori's face. "Nothing like a little talk on the phone to take your mind off a rough day. Speaking of which, it looks like you need punished again for trying to talk over me." Lori wisely chose not to resist as Leni placed her on her stomach once more, assuming their previous position. Rather than apply any more torture to her sister's arms, though, the younger girl simply held them in one hand while her other kept the phone. "The phone can be a good thing, but it can also get you into a lot of trouble, y'know? Bills, overages, nude selfies, that kind of thing."

"So it really was you," Lori conceded, chalking up yet another failure to her overflowing list. 'All that attitude I gave Lola, over a stupid phone...'

Leni took a moment to let one of her several trump cards, a long time in coming, hang in the air. Bringing up the incriminating images on her phone, she shoved them in Lori's face from the side. "Like, just think about it, Lori. Both your lives ruined because you're a slut who couldn't keep herself in check. Those pictures hanging over his and your heads when you apply to college, or look for a job, or eventually break up and have to start all over." Leaning in even closer, she uttered in a conspiratorial whisper, "just think what it's going to look like when I send them to Dad."

Lori struggled to understand the meaning behind that last warning. She'd been worried from day one over the pictures getting out and ruining her and Bobby's reputations, so that came as no surprise, but her parents? At worst they were going to be pissed at her, justifiably so. There had to be something more. 'If she sent them to Dad, the worst that would happen is me getting in trouble, unless...unless she's trying to get Dad in trouble.'

Her eyes widened in understanding, and Leni grinned savagely at the fear in them. "That's right. I can just, like, see the headlines now: 'Father of 11 in Michigan caught with nude photos of his teenage daughter.' That ought to keep him and Mom occupied for, oh, at least a few weeks or months." She giggled as she added, "that's not even thinking about the five or ten years afterward."

The last of Lori's pride in the face of her sister's abuse faded as she realized yet another person had been compromised because of her utter stupidity. Her body went slack as her face rested against the hard floor once again. "Leni, please," she pleaded, "what do you want? I'll do anything, give you literally anything! Whatever it takes to make this right!" Their parents were their best hope, and if there was even the slimmest chance that she could save her father and Bobby from her mistakes, she owed it to them to try.

Positioned as she was, she couldn't see the perverse pleasure on her sister's face transform into unrestrained rage. Eye twitching, chest beginning to heave, Leni grabbed Lori by the hair and jerked her head back. "What do I want? Like, what the fuck do you THINK I want?!" She slammed her sister's forehead into the floor, earning a sharp shriek from her. "I want four years back." She repeated the process, lifting and dropping. "I want my friends, my things, my TIME back!" Another blow. Lori's vision darkened around the edges, and she tried to form words that wouldn't come as she felt her head being brought up yet again.

"I WANT MY LIFE BACK!"

Lori began to black out from the final hit, her head completely consumed with fire as the rest of her body yielded to her younger sister's hold over her. As the last of her resistance gave way, Leni finally released her arms, the limbs falling limply behind her back as the victor stood to tower over her. In her last conscious moment, she heard her speak again, the words echoing oddly in her ears.

"You can't give me what I want, Lori. I'll just have to take what I can get."

Then, blissful darkness and silence.