Author Notes - Welp, we all saw this coming.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - CRACK ME UP

'What are you two doing?!'

The rainbows above Lola's head vanished into mist, thanks to a lack of sunlight beaming down onto them. The dark clouds loomed over them, but there was no more hail to beat out a lovely tune to ease her nerves.

'Oh no…' She murmured.

Lincoln saw their mother standing in the middle of the plaza, glaring up at them with her arms crossed. Lynn Sr stood next to Rita, looking more confused and shocked than truly angry. The sisters were rendered silent, and Ruidosa used its roof tiles to make a staircase of sorts for Lincoln, leading down to his parents. It was as if the house was bringing Lincoln to his doom, and - with a gulp - he walked down without being able to look his parents in the eye.

He just barely managed to give them a nervous smile. 'Hey, Mom and Dad! I'm sure you're wondering what that was all about. You see, I had to get Lola to hug me in order to save the magic, and I-'

'Look at the state of the house!' Rita yelled, throwing her arms up. 'Sand in the gutters, hail all over the floor, geysers going off…'

'Exactly! Look at all this cool stuff that Lola never knew she could even do! All I had to do was make her angry enough, and suddenly it was like Pandora's box was opened. But, you know, in a good way. She-'

Rita gasped. 'So this was your doing!'

That shut Lincoln right up. He stepped back, hardly able to bear his mother's stare down upon him.

'Look, Kiddo.' Lynn Sr said. 'I know it hurts that you're the only Loud Kid without a gift - other than Lily, of course - but you can't be doing… this.'

'Doing what?!' Lincoln cried. 'Making Lola happy?'

'I don't know what's gotten into you,' Rita said. 'But it seems like the magic is crumbling around you! You have a talk with Lori, and she loses her gift. You speak to Luan, and her gift goes out of control! Leni's proposal was ruined, the twins are fighting even more than they used to, and now… and now Lola's going crazy!'

Lincoln clenched his fists. 'I've been trying to help! You think I want my sisters to be sad? All I wanna do is-'

'Just because you don't have a gift doesn't mean you can ruin it for everyone else! Whatever it is you're trying to do, you have to stop, Lincoln!'

Everything went silent. Lincoln had no idea what he was supposed to say to defend himself, but when he looked into his mother's eyes, he saw just one thing… regret.

'Lincoln…' Rita said, her voice softer. 'I don't know what else to say. I-I don't wanna imagine it, but it seems like you are the one causing everything to go wrong. Everything that has gone wrong happened because of you. And… and we cannot lose this magic.'

The sisters did not say a word, knowing what could happen if they meddled with this mess. They didn't leave, but they simply stayed in their spots and watched. No matter how badly they wanted to defend Lincoln, they had no idea how. Well, with one exception.

'Hey!' Leni yelled, catching everyone's attention. 'That is totes wrong!'

She summoned a vine from the ground floor and wrapped it around her waist, allowing it to carry her down to her parents. The sight of such perfect use of her gift made Luan pull at her (now blonde) hair, and threatened to bring Lori to tears again.

'I know Linky, like, ruined my proposal,' Leni said, rubbing her elbow. 'But that's what I wanted! Bobby is totes a nice guy and everything, but-'

'Oh, I see how it is!' Lynn Jr yelled, dashing down to her in a split second. 'Little Miss Perfect not only had a great vision, but is happy that everyone else's life has been ruined! You just have to rub it in, don't you?'

Leni put her hands on her hips. 'Hey, I did not say that. Linky helped me! That's all I wanted to say.'

'He helped me too!' Lola said, forming a rainbow with her hands. 'Look at all this awesome stuff I learnt I could do, thanks to him! I thought my gift came with a stupid restriction, but I think it's actually the best gift of-'

'Oh, would you PLEASE JUST STOP?!' Lori screamed.

The oldest sister punctuated her scream by slamming her hands on the railing. All it accomplished was hurting her and reminding her that she was no longer any stronger than the rest of her family.

'My gift is literally gone,' She yelled, 'And you get to find out that your gift lets you do all this cool stuff. It… it… it isn't fair! You're showing off your powers, and I have… nothing.'

Luan scoffed. 'You act like-' She changed form to look like Lisa. 'You're the only one who-' Then to Lincoln. 'Is losing her grip-' To Lana. 'On her gift! I can't even-' To Bobby. 'Remember what Luan-' And to Ace Savvy. 'LOOKS LIKE ANYMORE!'

'At least you still HAVE your gift! I don't even have that…'

Lincoln looked to the ground - there was a thick crack forming right under his feet that was definitely not there a moment ago.

'Why are you guys even complaining about your gifts?' Lana demanded. 'Yours were USEFUL!'

'Oh, so we're gonna complain about that, are we?' Lola asked, guiding herself down a level with wind. 'Are you forgetting the fact that I have spent YEARS under insane stress because no one wanted me to cause a hurricane?! Meanwhile, you got to sit inside your room all day and talk to your smelly animal friends!'

'I wanted a gift that would be as helpful as Lori's or Leni's. I can't do anything with what I was given!'

The crack grew again, stretching all the way across the plaza floor suddenly enough to make Lincoln and his parents stumble. The boy's eyes widened with realisation.

'I'm not the one causing the cracks,' He said, unable to find that thought relieving. 'It's everyone. It's the fighting! A-And our feelings! If we fight or get stressed…'

'I don't want to hear any of your inane complaints!' Lisa yelled, causing the crack to split and climb up the walls. 'Until any of you have to exert so much energy helping around town that you fall asleep in the middle of dinner!'

'Did you not see what it was like for me?' Lori asked. 'That's literally what it was like for me, almost every single day!'

The cracks spread again, moving like someone had dropped a heavy rock on a thin glass pane. They passed straight through Lori and Leni's doors, and suddenly Leni felt the warmth in her body strangely disappearing.

'Huh…?' She murmured, looking at her hands.

She brushed her hand over the railing, much the way she normally would when creating another batch of flowers. It didn't require any thought at all, except now… nothing was growing. She waved both hands across the wall, only to find herself unable to make anything while her door's light had gone out completely.

'AAHHH!' She yelped. 'I-I can't make flowers anymore!'

Lana groaned. 'Is that all you're worried about? Flowers?!'

'DO YOU SEE HOW IT FEELS?!' Lori screamed.

The cracks spread again, taking out Luna and Lisa's doors next. Lisa noticed the dying glow immediately, and when she turned around to see her faded and cracked door, her eyes watered more than she would ever admit.

'No!' She cried. 'I… I only received my gift two days ago. I'm not ready to lose it so soon!'

Luna froze. Almost all of the auditory information she was used to receiving stopped, and now all she could hear was everything going on in the house. The river, the town, the cars… all gone, substituted with nothing but a void. Trying to increase the power of her gift failed.

'GAH!' She yelled. 'You know what? Fine! Maybe I was better off without that gift anyway. No more dealing with Luan's stupid jokes,'

'You take-' Now Lola. 'That back!'

'Lola's temper tantrums,'

'Do you WANT a fireball to the butt?!'

'Or Lynn's obnoxious gloating!'

Lynn rushed over into Luna's face, tripping over herself about three times before she reached her destination. It was the first time since receiving her gift that she had ever tripped.

'You don't want me to gloat whenever I get a new land speed record?!' She demanded. 'BEING FAST IS ALL I AM!'

Lincoln could not follow the rest of the 'conversation', for everyone began yelling and ranting all at once. It was impossible to make out a single word, and he couldn't remember the last time a fight between his sisters had gotten this bad. And considering which family we're talking about here, that is saying something. So bad, in fact, that no one seemed to notice the cracks finishing off the last few doors.

Lola's gift shut off at just the wrong time, for she had been flying high through the air ready to deliver some fire or lightning to someone's behind when she lost all control of the weather.

'WAHH!' She yelled, plummeting towards the ground.

'LOLA!' Lincoln cried.

How lucky Lola was that he managed to catch her in his arms, with just enough time to spare so he could catch her slowly and gently. When she realised what had just happened, she wrapped her arms around his chest and held on tight.

'EVERYONE!' Lincoln yelled.

It seemed like the only thing that managed to stop the arguing, something that even Lola almost falling to her doom failed to do.

'Don't you see what's happening?!' Lincoln demanded. 'If the only time we ever talk about our struggles is when we're yelling and fighting with each other, we're gonna lose the magic!'

'KIDS!' Rita yelled. 'Get out of there before it's too late!'

The sisters still weren't certain about what on earth was going on, but a tonne's worth of shingles falling to the floor convinced them enough. They charged down the stairs as quickly as they could, only able to avoid tripping over themselves thanks to Ruidosa moving the steps under their feet.

'I'm running so slowly…' Lynn murmured. 'WHY AM I RUNNING SO SLOWLY?!'

'And who the heck is this?!' Luan asked, staring at her hands. 'I don't recognise this lady at all!'

'WAIT FOR ME!' Lisa yelled, her little legs stopping her from catching up with the others.

'Gotcha!' Lori cried as she scooped the five-year-old into her arms.

Lori had swiped her up just in time, for another part of the roof collapsed and dropped a whole pile of shingles and wooden beams where Lisa had been standing just a moment ago. The young girl gasped and hugged her big sister as tight as she could, and Lori could not shake the guilt and shame of being unable to completely protect her against the falling house. The sisters all congregated in the middle of the plaza, which was arguably the safest place to stand in the house at that moment.

'Roll call!' Rita yelled. 'In birth order, go!'

'Lori!'

'Leni!'

'Luna!'

Lincoln looked around for whoever was missing, just to be sure. There was a reason why they had devised this verbal 'in-order' method of checking, because with so many kids it was all too easy to lose track. Of course, he had to exclude Lucy, and ignore the worries about her fate within those walls.

'Luan!'

'Lynn!'

'Lincoln!'

Right as it said his name, he realised that someone was indeed missing. He muttered her name under his breath, and ran away from his sisters and up the collapsing stairs while he still could, making a beeline directly for his parents' room.

'Lana!'

'Lola!'

'Lisa!'

There was a short silence. Despite being so young, Lily was perfectly capable of beating out a joyful 'WIWY!' right after Lisa's name. The little one had practically been trained to do so. So when all they got was silence filled only by the wooden support beams beginning to fall…

'Where's Lily?' Lynn Sr asked, already beginning to sweat.

Rita gasped. 'She must still be in our room! Kids, get out of here as soon as possible and don't look back!'

Leni looked around. 'Where's Linky?'

It was only then that the rest of the family noticed that Lincoln was not there, and they saw him - for just a split second - as he ducked into his parents' room.

'LINCOLN!' They all yelled at once.

Rita and Lynn Sr ran for the stairs, with the girls disobeying their orders and rushing after them, only to find that Ruidosa was pushing them back with its floor tiles. The floor moved almost like waves in the ocean heading towards the front doors, quickly enough to make a couple of them topple over onto their rears.

'Lincoln!' Rita cried.

She ran against the waves as fast as she could, but every wave just pushed her further back than she could climb. Some joined the fight to reach the stairs while others still allowed Ruidosa to push them away.

'I CAN'T EVEN KEEP MY OWN BROTHER SAFE!' Lori cried, giving into her own stress and allowing Ruidosa to carry her away.

'I got this!' Lynn said, squatting down for a running start.

The very moment Lynn took her first step, however, she didn't go nearly as fast as she expected and just tripped over herself flat onto her face. She had just enough time to glance at her dull-feeling legs and see that her door had stopped glowing, before Ruidosa pushed her along and threw her - alongside everyone else - out the doors. The sisters and their parents fell onto the soft grass outside of their home, struggling to get to their feet before Ruidosa slammed the doors shut on them anyway.

Rita rushed to the doors and tried to push - and pull - them open, but they didn't budge. 'Leia, you better keep my son safe!'

'LEIA?!' The sisters all cried at once.

'I'll explain it all to you another day. I have a son to worry about!'

'Rita,' Lynn Sr said as calmly as he could (which wasn't much). 'We can't do anything right now. We gotta trust Leia.'

Rita did not want to admit it, but she realised that her husband was right.

'LILY!'

Rita's room was perhaps the plainest room in the house. It was big, yes, but the size was the only thing differentiating it from an ordinary bedroom. No massive screens like Lori's. No pretty castles like Lola's. No crazy lab equipment like Lisa's. The strangest thing about it was the mini kitchen, there for Lynn Sr, but that was it.

Lincoln thanked his lucky stars that the room was so plain, because it made the crib much easier to find. As if the sound of Lily crying wouldn't make it easy enough to find. Hearing her frightened wails broke Lincoln's heart, and he dashed across the room so fast it was like he had the gift of super speed.

'Lily, are you okay?!'

He saw his youngest sister holding on tight to her lavender blanket, crying her eyes out but otherwise no worse for wear. A big piece of debris lay next to her crib; Ruidosa must've moved it out of the way. Lincoln waited not a moment longer. He picked Lily up and held her as close to his chest as he could. Her wailing calmed down, though she couldn't stop crying.

'It's alright, Lily.' Lincoln said, as gently as he could. 'I'll keep you safe, I promise.'

'Winky?'

'Yes, that's right. Your big brother. I'll keep you safe.'

Lincoln turned around to rush for the door, only for the floorboards to move him forward anyway. He glanced back for only a moment, just to see another piece of debris crush Lily's crib beneath it. His heart almost stopped.

No matter what, he was going to make sure that Lily made it out. No matter what.

Once out the door, he found that the stairs had collapsed under the weight of a collapsed roof. The plaza was littered with shingles and wooden boards, and the older sisters' rooms couldn't even be seen anymore. That entire half of Ruidosa had collapsed in on itself already.

'WAHH!'

The floor collapsed beneath him and he fell through. He held onto Lily, just in case he could still save her, and kept his eyes closed as he waited for his final breath. Very soon, however, he realised that he was going down a slide of boards and tiles. Lily's wails and falling walls filled his ears, and he couldn't see the floor until he bumped against it.

'WINKY!'

'It's okay, Lily! Nothing is going to hurt you while I'm here!'

He stood up to rush for the doors, only to find that a massive pile of wood and bricks blocked the exit. The cracks wouldn't stop until Ruidosa was more crack than house, and Lincoln found himself surrounded by walls that were collapsing in on themselves. He could hear his sisters yelling his name on the other side, and never before did they sound so terrified.

'We're trapped…' He murmured.

Taking another look at the baby in his arms, he knew there was only one thing he could do. He tucked her close to his body, knelt down on the floor, and kept her covered. When the house inevitably crushed him, he'd hopefully keep Lily safe and alive long enough for their parents or sisters to find them.

Ruidosa, however, refused to let that be Lincoln's final action. With all the strength it could gather, it pushed doors and cupboards and even couches towards him as quickly as it could. It stacked all the defences it could manage, creating a teepee-like barrier that - it hoped - would keep him safe from the debris. When he looked up, he saw a cupboard opening up to wave him goodbye.

Still, he held Lily tight and braced for the end. It never came. Soon, the sounds of crashing came to slow stop until they ceased completely. All he could hear was small rocks tumbling and his sisters calling out his name. He opened his eyes slowly, peeping out through a gap in the shield.

Ruidosa was in total ruin.

Lily was too frightened to cry.

'It's okay, Lily…' Lincoln said, trying to convince himself just as much as her. 'I've got you. Nothing is going to hurt you.'

His whole family was calling out his name, but he stayed in place. Lily was all that mattered right now. He peered down at her to check for any scrapes or bruises, but fortunately found nothing. It seemed like any and all damage the little girl had received was only mental, which wasn't much better but certainly better than mental and physical damage.

'Lincoln!'

The boy found a pair of bespectacled eyes peeking in through a gap.

'I found him!' Lisa yelled, coughing a little from the airborne dust. 'He's alright, and so is Lily!'

It only took a second or two for the doors surrounding him to be pushed aside. He had to cover his eyes from the sudden light shining into them, and when his eyes adjusted he saw his mother looking down on him with worry. All her other daughters stood behind her, with Lynn Sr checking each one for an injury that he could no longer heal.

'Lincoln!' She cried. 'Are you alright?'

Lincoln responded simply by holding up Lily. Leni was the one who took her into her hands, murmuring comforting words in a gentle tone to calm her down. The little one whimpered, but relaxed in her big sister's arms.

'Lincoln, are you hurt?' Lori asked, before tears came to her eyes once again. 'Oh, I can't keep anyone safe now!'

'I still don't know who this is supposed to be!' Luan cried.

Lynn groaned. 'That's your normal look, you clown!'

Luan stared at her hands. '... … … It is?'

Lincoln looked around at the rubble before him. He could see bits and pieces of the familiar wallpaper and tiles, though everything in each bedroom had seemingly vanished into nothing. Lucy was nowhere to be found. As he picked up a small piece of a ruined wall, there was only one thought in his head.

I got the vision wrong…

'Dudes, look!' Luna cried. 'The candle!'

The rest of his family ran away to another spot in the endless rubble, where they found the tiny and burnt remains of that everlasting candle. The sisters were rendered silent as the all-important magical item might as well have been destroyed as well. Rita picked up what remained of the beautiful candle, holding it tight for just a moment, before she tossed it aside.

'Forget about the candle!' She said. 'What matters right now is us. Time for the roll-call again.'

'Lori…'

'Leni!'

'Luna.'

'L-Luan?'

'Lynn!'

Silence.

'Lincoln!' The whole family cried out at once.

When they turned back to where Lincoln was sitting just a moment ago, he was gone.

Author Notes - Rita's been playing the 'role' of Abuela for the story, but I didn't want her to be as bad as her. Because that would be kinda out-of-character, wouldn't it? Thus, I wanted the downfall of Ruidosa to be caused by the Loud Sisters getting into a massive fight with each other. It seemed more appropriate for the show.