Other People

Near the highway leading out of Pentagram City, Lincoln was walking away from a wrecked cab with a fat imp jammed into the engine, said cab was now starting to cause a traffic jam. Lincoln himself was slapping the side of his head as he walked, "Great job Lincoln, your night has officially gone to shit...you are walking from Pentagram City to Imp City because you lost your temper...how did it get this bad?"

Five Hours Earlier...

"Have fun at Ozzie's, you two." Lincoln waved off Moxxie and Millie as they went out for their one year anniversary. The fiasco that happens there is the last thing in canon that will happen in this crossover. Plus that sad shit with Blitzo and Stolas.

Anyway, Lincoln turned towards Loona, "Hey, is Keenie done pressing my suit?"

"How the fuck would I know?" Loona asked, not looking up from her magazine.

Lincoln grinned, "Are you mad because I'm going on a date and you're not?"

Loona shook her head, "Nah. I just hate you."

Lincoln stepped away and opened up the door to his room/closet, "Hey, Keenie!" he called out.

Keenie was sitting on the bed, watching a small TV and eating tortilla chips.

"Keenie, what are you doing?" Lincoln asked.

Keenie looked over, "Is that a trick question or have you gone blind?" she asked.

Lincoln approached with gritted teeth, "You have ten seconds to tell me where my suit is or I'll use your wool to make a new one!"

"For fucks sake! It's hanging on the door!" Keenie pointed at the black pinstripe suit.

Lincoln turned around and saw it, "Ah, good." He took the suit and proceeded to change into it.

"Must you change in front of me?" Keenie asked.

"It isn't anything you haven't seen before." Lincoln said as he finished up getting into the suit.

"You say that as if it makes it any better."

"I see Loona has been a bad influence on you. You're getting about as mouthy as her." Lincoln chided.

"Fuck you too, Linky." Loona remarked.

Keenie murmured, she looked out of the room at Deerie's stuffed head, "Hell itself is a bad influence. Though it could always get worse."

"Not for me though, Octavia invited me to dinner tonight at a fancy restaurant in Greed!" Lincoln cheered as he put on a bowtie.

"Yippee for you." Loona told him as sarcastically as she could.

Lincoln frowned at her, "Yes. Yippie for me. Remember to lock the door when you go home Loona. Have a good night, if you can." he ignored the middle finger as he walked out of the office.

Keenie sighed and shook her head at Loona, "You poor thing. You really ought to just forget about doing anything with him."

Loona jumped onto her desk on all fours and growled at the fallen angel, "I will paint this whole fucking office with your blood!"

"Again? Really?" Keenie asked.

Just before Loona could pounce, her hellphone went off. She quickly took it out to see a text. "...holy shit, I just got invited to a party."

Lincoln stood outside looking at his hellphone clock and messages from Octavia.

"Be there soon. In a cab to be discreet. Don't make a scene." the most recent message read.

Down the sidewalk a trio of imp youths started to approach Lincoln. One with a slingshot, one with a bat with a knife taped to it, one with a grenade.

Lincoln pulled out his pistol and pointed it in their direcrion without looking, "I think you're going the wrong way." he told them.

The trio scurried off into an alley. Soon after that a taxi with the name No-Tell Transport with tinted windows drove up. The backdoor opening for Lincoln. Octavia sitting on the opposite side in a gorgeous dress with constellations sparkling and slowly moving on it.

Lincoln got into the taxi, next to his date, "Good to see you Oct-"

"Keep quiet until we're on the road." Octavia told him.

"Ah, sorry." Lincoln grinned a bit. The door to the taxi shutting.

The fat imp driver looked to be smoking four cigars at once, he eyed Lincoln a bit in the rearview mirror before looking at Octavia, "Gonna have to charge you more for the rabbit-sinner."

Octavia nodded, "Of course. And this trip never happened."

"Of course." the taxi driver raised up the divider.

The taxi moved onto the highway leading out of Imp City, and Octavia scooted onto Lincoln and nuzzled her cheek onto his chest, "Sorry for interrupting you, but I couldn't let the entire neighborhood know I was right there."

Lincoln put his arm around her, "Nah, it's okay, I'm a bit excited, I don't think we ever got together like this on the weekend."

Octavia stopped nuzzling, "On weekends, my mum drags me around to visit the rest of the Goetia family where she parades me around like a trophy and then gets drunk. She's in her third glass by now so I doubt she'll notice I'm gone for a few hours."

The air in the cab got a bit tense, so Lincoln tried changing the subject, "Um...your dress is lovely."

Octavia looked down at it and scoffed, "Ugh...thanks, but I hate wearing fancy shit like this."

Lincoln grinned, "Heh, maybe you ought to take it off. Would be a lot more comfortable for both of us."

Octavia blushed a bit with a shy smile, "Lincoln, we're going out for dinner, I'm not on the menu."

Lincoln smiled back at her, "Okay, I'll behave."

The trip from Pride to Greed was a long stretch on the Highway through Hell, though that didn't matter with the kind of vehicles the demons had access to. Soon enough, neon lights advertising the best places to get ripped off shined through the windows.

Lincoln looked out the window for a bit, "So uh, what's this place we're going to?" he asked.

"They call it Pallas's Palate. Some ritzy name for a ritzy restaurant." Octavia answered.

"And you got us a reservation?"

"I rented out the entire place. Can't risk many demons seeing me there, especially with you."

Lincoln felt a large stone forming in his gut, "Uh...really? That seems uh, super pricey."

Octavia shrugged, "I get a huge allowance, what can I say?"

Lincoln tugged on his collar a bit and looked out the window, "I mean, I'm super happy you'd go through the trouble to rent out an entire restaurant, but I can't help but feel a bit...Immediate Murder Pizza?" Lincoln lost his train of thought as the taxi drove past a sign saying just that with the I.M.P. logo clearly stolen from their office.

Octavia nodded, "Oh yeah, an imp named Clawthon set that up. Very popular with kids, especially their robotic killer rabbit mascot."

Lincoln was a bit dumbstruck, "...can I sue them?" he finally asked.

Octavia shrugged again, "You can try, Hell's legal system is insanely corrupt though."

Lincoln sighed, "Guess having someone rip off your likeness to create a restaurant is a little flattering."

Loona entered the party wearing a red slip dress and black stockings. The building was filled of hellhounds, lights, smoke, booze, and electric music.

"Loona, hey!" Vortex approached her from the crowd.

Loona shyly smiled and waved, "H-hey Vortex! Nice party, I think, I don't usually go to many."

Vortex chuckled a bit and led her inside, "That's alright, everyone's gotta start somewhere. Hey, sorry it took so long to get a party organized, it's been a busy summer. Finally got a good night off."

Loona nodded, "I know, right? Been so stupidly busy, I needed a night to just let loose."

"Oh hey, I know this guy you might hit it off with." Vortex wrapped an arm around a more lean but muscular hellhound from the crowd and pulled him around, "Loona, this is Brutus, he's a big fan of Verosika!"

The hellhound Brutus smirked, "Yeah, but still not big enough to get her autograph."

Vortex let go and playfully punched Brutus's shoulder, "I told ya, I can't let ya get too close to her. I know how you are."

Brutus nodded, "That's fair."

Vortex pulled away a little, "I gotta check up on some stuff. Be back quick."

As soon as Vortex left, Loona looked Brutus over with an unimpressed frown, "He knows how you are?"

Brutus laughed a bit, "Yeah, we met when he tackled me for trying to run up to Verosika to get her autograph."

"Well, that was stupid of you." Loona chided.

"Yeah...say, you look familiar, have we met?"

"Uh, no, I don't think so."

"No wait...nah, my bad, you just kinda look like this weirdo from the undernet." Brutus pulled out his hellphone which had an picture of Loona in her human form being paraded around Imp City on a leash.

Loona saw the image of herself and turned into an ice sculpture.

"Shocking huh? Some freak from last spring! And I thought I had some weird kinks!"

Vortex walked up to the two, "Hey Loona, you doing okay- wait, isn't that you in your human form?"

In Pallas's Palate, Octavia was wiping her beak with a napkin as Lincoln was still chomping down a large amount of barbecue beef, fish, cake, fishcake, and a side salad, "I take it you don't eat like this often?" she asked.

Lincoln chewed up what he had in his mouth and swallowed, "Yeah...I haven't really been eating much at all really." he tried to smile but it was a bit shaky.

Octavia smiled, "Well, that's no good. I can't imagine doing what you do without eating a thing."

Lincoln looked down at Octavia's small and empty plate, "Uh, speaking of, was that all you're going to eat tonight?"

Octavia nodded, "I don't really need to eat much. Small stomach. But that's besides the point, I needed to talk to you about something, and I needed you to be as comfortable as possible."

Lincoln grinned, "Well, if you have a bed in here as a surprise..."

Octavia let out a heavy sigh, "Lincoln. This is important. I invited you out for dinner tonight as...as a way to say goodbye."

Lincoln dropped his utensils, he looked directly at Octavia with eyes as big as dinner plates, "What?" he gasped out.

Octavia looked back at him, her eyes almost seemingly looking through him, "I have enjoyed my time with you, but-"

"Wait, are you breaking up with me?" Lincoln then asked.

Octavia shut her eyes, "This is barely a relationship Lincoln. I come into your room some nights just to get away from my mum's screaming for a few hours. I've been using you, and that wasn't fair to you. I felt I should at least treat you to this, as an apology."

Lincoln was silent for a few moments, then he opened his mouth, "So, what's the real reason?"

Octavia's eyes shot open, " ...what?"

Lincoln sat up in his chair, pushing all the food away to get a better look, "I know we only met a few months ago, but since I've landed in Hell, I've been trying to get better at reading people. I've even been trying harder since the Harvest Moon Festival incident. Anyway, I can tell you're lying, or at least not telling me everything."

Octavia winced a bit, she hung her head down with a frown, then looked up at him with her eyes, "...do you really want to know?" she asked.

Lincoln nodded, "Why you want to stop seeing me? Yeah."

Octavia started to rub her fingers together, "I...I don't think you could understand."

Lincoln narrowed his eyes, "I can try."

Octavia took a deep breath, "...okay, a week ago I woke up from a vision-"

"Wait, you're breaking up with me over a dream?" Lincoln interrupted.

"VISION!" Octavia squawked, then groaned, "I knew you couldn't understand..."

Lincoln bit his tongue to punish it, then apologized, "I'm sorry, please continue."

Octavia took another deep breath and continued, "My dad, he has the power to make predictions by reading the stars, yeah? I have...something like that, I can have visions of the future when I dream somtimes. When I was a child, I had one where my dad vanished and I couldn't find him...and now with mum screeching how much she hates him and my dad divorcing her almost a year ago...I think it's going to come true."

Lincoln nodded, "Okay, but what does that have to do with me?"

Before answering, Octavia finished a glass of wine she had, "I had a vision about you. Last week. Clear as day. In it, we are together, we are dancing, we are happy...then you stop. And suddenly, a bright light tears you away from me..." Octavia shut her eyes.

Lincoln waited a moment, "So...then what?" he asked.

Octavia kept her eyes shut, "I woke up."

Lincoln frowned, not fully understanding, "...and based off of that, you want to stop seeing me?"

Octavia opened her eyes, they were full of tears, "Do you think this is easy for me? Do you think I want to stop seeing you? I think I love you, Lincoln. Even if it's just hormones overcompensating for my home life falling apart...I don't want you taken away from me!"

Lincoln stood up and outstretched his arms, hands open in the air, "Then don't stop seeing me! What's really stopping you? We are here right now alone in this rented out restaurant!"

Octavia stood up as well, "I didn't sleep after that vision, Lincoln! I spent hours reading and researching, trying to figure out what it meant! It made me think a lot of things...even if we end up together for a while, how long will it last? How long can we keep it in the dark? I don't even want to keep it in the dark but my family will freak the fuck out and stop it, I know it! I barely have any control of my stupid life...if I'm going to lose you, I want to at least lose you on my own terms!"

Lincoln didn't shout back, he took a breath to calm himself and sat down, "If you can see it happening, doesn't that mean we can stop it?"

Octavia sat back down as well, "...I don't know. I'm still trying to get the hang of my magic to be honest."

"Via, we were happy together in your vision. Don't you want to at least try?"

"Of course I do! But I just...I can barely say a word to my parents. What the fuck could I even do to keep you in my life?"

"Via..."

Octavia stood up, she turned around and opened up a portal to an empty bedchamber, "...I need to go, Lincoln. Take the cab back to Pride, I already paid your way. Goodbye."

A few seconds later, Lincoln was alone.

Loona stumbled down the back streets, angry. Angry at the hellhound, angry at the image of her, angry at Vortex's party. But above all that, she was angry at herself and how she freaked out in the middle of what was supposed to be a safe place to let loose.

Loona's hellphone buzzed with an accompanying scream for what felt like the tenth time since she ran out. She pulled out the phone to see a string of missed calls and texts. All of them from the hellhound she admired, all being apologetic and suggesting that things have calmed down and that nobody was judging her.

Loona crushed her phone and threw it into the gutter. Something in her head was trying to get her to stop, to turn back, to play this all off as some sort of big joke she was pulling. She already made up her mind however, and kept stomping away.

She was having a hard time figuring out where to go now, however.

Lincoln had his face in his hands in the back of the cab, still trying to understand what just happened. One minute he and Octavia were enjoying themselves, the next minute she left him.

While mulling over her reasons for it, Lincoln didn't notice he was back in Pride. Not until he heard the fat imp cab driver shouting at him.

"C'mon long ears, this is where you get off!" the cabbie yelled, the cheap cigars filling the passenger area.

Lincoln looked out the window and frowned, "What do you mean this is where I get off? We're still in Pentagram City!"

The cabbie nodded, "That Goetia slut paid me enough to not care, but I ain't ferrying you into Imp City. Not with your reputation."

Lincoln's face twitched, "The fuck did you just call her?"

Now...

Lincoln was greeted upon entering the city limits of Imp City by bottles being thrown at him, and bullets being shot at him. He didn't bother dodging them, at this point his Sinner Demon body was toughened enough that the bottles and bullets would do more damage to his suit.

He didn't really care about his suit right now.

Right now, Lincoln needed to get back home. Or rather, back to the I.M.P. office, it was the closest thing to a home he had now. He decided to take a shortcut down the back alleys.

Soon enough, he came across the trio of imp youths from before, assaulting what seemed like a homeless demon. Kicking them while they were down.

"God shall punish thee! He-He shall purge all that is evil!"

Scratch that, they were assaulting a homeless angel. Kicking him while he was down. Lincoln approached, causing the imp wielding a bat with a knife taped to it to strike him without realizing who was approaching.

The knife got stuck in Lincoln's shoulder and the tape came off the bat. The sight of him caused the trio of imps to run off. One of them started shouting, "I told ya to use nails! Your mom is gonna kill ya for losing that knife!"

"Fuck you! I got him!" the one with the bat shouted back.

Lincoln turned his attention to Collin, the fallen lamb angel, propped up against a dumpster that was on fire with both his legs and one arm missing. His remaining arm was holding a bottle of Beelzebooze. The angel focused his eyes, "You...you...what are you doing here?"

Lincoln pulled the knife out and tossed it into a corner, "That deer cunt sent me here for not being baptized, remember?"

The angel drank a bit from the bottle, "No, I meant here in front of me. Haven't you hurt me enough? Look at what the imps in this city did to me! They tore my legs off!"

Lincoln pointed at the nub where his other arm would be, "Looks like they took more than that."

Collin shook his head, "Nah, I traded that for a crate of these." he held up the Beelzebooze, "It tastes horrible compared to the wine in Heaven, but it numbs the pain. Wasn't using that arm anyway since you broke it and it wouldn't heal."

Lincoln took the bottle from Collin's hand and drank what was left in it in front of him.

"WHAT THE FUCK, MAN? That was my last one! What kind of monster-"

Lincoln smashed the now empty bottle on the dumpster and lifted up Collin by his throat, "You know what? You need to learn to shut your fucking mouth..."

Keenie shook her head, "Why are you back here?"

Loona sat on Lincoln's bed, in her human form and still in her party outfit, adding absinthe to some coffee, "Blitzo is having an emotional episode or some shit at home."

"Looks like you're having a bigger one yourself."

"Can you just...stop? Please?" Loona asked, sounding more somber than angry.

Keenie sighed and backed away to give the girl space, "Okay. I'll just be out here."

Loona nodded. Keenie went around the office, cleaning it as she did. The odd calm that came with performing menial tasks while distant gunshots could be heard was disrupted when the office door was flung open and Lincoln walked in, carrying Collin over his shoulder.

"Do your worst, Sinner! You can't break what you've already broken!" Collin yelled as he struggled to get loose.

"Yeah, yeah, take a seat and shush." Lincoln told him as he set the lamb on the couch of the waiting room.

Keenie stopped what she was doing and ran up to her once comrade, "Collin! Where have you been?" she glared at Lincoln, "What did you do to him?"

Lincoln shrugged as he backed away, "Nothing, he was like this when I found him binge drinking Beelzebooze."

Loona poked her head out of Lincoln's room, "Don't you mean Beelzejuice?" she asked.

Lincoln shook his head, "No, it's the bootleg version. A lot cheaper and a lot less glamorous...how would Beelzejuice end up in Imp City?"

"Oh yeah..."

Definitely was not because I forgot what the drink was called. This makes much more sense.

Collin blinked as he realized he was being handled by an old friend, "I'm… sorry you have to see me like this, Keenie."

Keenie hugged him and gently rubbed his fluffy head, "Hush now Collin, just relax..." soon enough Collin fell asleep, and Keenie glared at Lincoln, "This is all your fault. You did this to him!"

Lincoln paused for a moment and lowered his head, "I know. And I'm sorry."

"What?"

Lincoln looked Keenie in the eyes, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. When I found him on my way back, I realized I went too far. I won't excuse myself...I do want to make things right, it's why I brought him back with me."

Keenie turned her head away, "I don't believe you."

Lincoln sighed, "Keenie, why are you still here at the office? I'm not your boss or owner or whatever anymore. Blitzo doesn't care if you're here or not. Why don't you just leave?"

"...where would I go?"

Lincoln shrugged, "Good question..." he looked over at Loona, "...wait, are you wearing a dress?"

"You're just now noticing that?" Loona asked.

Lincoln sighed, "It's been a rough night, Loo."

"For me, maybe."

Keenie groaned, she pushed Lincoln into the closet, "Girl, his suit is ruined and his composure is gone. You can cut the tough act." she shut the door, trapping the two together.

Loona blushed a bit and patted the edge of Lincoln's bed, "Oh...what the shit happened to you?"

Lincoln took a seat next to Loona, and took a deep breath, "...Octavia broke up with me."

Loona grinned for a second, "She did?" the grin quickly got submerged into a frown, "Er, that's rough. What happened?"

"Honesty, I can't figure out what went wrong. She said something about visions and how we weren't gonna last, and if she was going to lose me anyway she'd rather just dump me."

"I...wow...I don't know what to say to that."

"I don't think there's a lot to say. So uh, what's with your dress? And your human form?"

Loona rubbed her arm a bit, "Kinda forgot I transformed to be honest. I guess I wanted to feel more comfortable. The dress was for a party Vortex invited me to, remember him?"

Lincoln nodded, "Yeah, Verosika's bodyguard, right? Seemed alright even if he outsmarted me."

"Yeah...I went and I uh...this guy I met there embarrassed me so I freaked out."

"And you came here instead of your apartment?" Lincoln asked.

"I just...I just like being here. I like being around you, even if you don't like being around me."

"Well...I do like being around you. It's just kind of awkward."

Loona stood up, growling a bit, "Awkward? How? What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything, you just remind me too much of my sisters."

"Don't bullshit me, you don't have hellhound sisters."

"No, but one is named Luna. Lori is always on her phone. Leni keeps chasing trends. Luan is always pulling pranks. Lynn bullies everyone. Lucy is a pale skin goth. Lola is spoiled rotten. Lana could be part-dog. Lisa is overtly sassy. Lily..." a few tears dropped, "I miss them all."

Loona's scowl softened a bit, "Oh shit...hey, I didn't mean to-"

"Don't worry about it. It's my hangups."

Loona sat back down, "Hey uh...I was gonna drink absinthe and coffee until I pass out, but did you want to do anything?"

Lincoln laid down, "All I want to do is shut my eyes and wish for this stupid nightmare to end."

"Okay, good luck with that."

Lincoln awoke to the sight of Blitzo looking down at him. As he got up, he noticed Loona was laying at his side. Lincoln quickly got to his feet, "Blitz, I-"

Blitzo put a hand over Lincoln's mouth, "No, I can't overlook this. Lincoln, I want you out of here. You're fired."

Recover from loss

Did not make me feel better

All I gained were scars

End of Arc 1

Mr. Dusk here, I'm gonna be taking a break from this crossover, at least until I can map out a plot for the second arc. For now, I hope you've enjoyed this weird wild ride so far, and I'd love for you all to join me again when we get back on the road.

In the meantime, as I've suggested before, check out Lincoln Loud: Bounty-Hunting Hellhare by my bro Lavenian. Or if you want more from me, check out The Grim Adventures of Lincoln and Lucy which will be updated soon or my Invader Zim/Loud House crossover: Siblings of Doom!

Or...if you got a good idea for a fan fiction or anything really but can't find the right words, I'm always open for commissions. Don't try to shake me down like the dumbass who threatened me to make this one, and I started it out of spite.