It was not long before Lincoln and Lucy adjusted to their new surroundings. The brother and sister had moved their belongings into Lyra's guest room, which was of course larger than Lincoln's old room. Although they had to share the double bed, they were both glad they would at least be taking comfort in each other, believing they would need it just about every night. Of course, there was one thing Lyra insisted on doing once the kids got settled in.
"Are you sure about this?" Lucy asked.
"Of course, sweetie," answered Lyra. "Now hold still." With a pair of sharp scissors, Lyra very carefully trimmed away Lucy's bangs by a bunch, finally exposing her eyes that were hidden for the longest time. Lyra held up a mirror to the goth girl. "How does that look?" Lucy looked at her own eyes and she was amazed. Lincoln also got to see Lucy's eyes after a very long time. Lucy blushed a bit.
"I guess... you and I can start to see each other clearly," said Lucy. Lincoln smiled.
"Your eyes are beautiful, Luce," he said, making her blush again.
It was obvious how word had first spread of Lincoln and Clyde's misdeed to try and get into that Ace Savvy movie at the Comic-Con. A few videos had been taken by people, intending to record the results of the contest, so the confession ended up recorded as well and of course, those who took videos put them online, thus Royal Woods Elementary School got wind of the shenanigans and things went downhill from there. As for the Loud sisters getting word of the footage of them that was to be used for the movie amounting to nothing but a promotion for one last comic book with the Full House Gang before Lincoln revoked the rights, it was obvious they found out when they were shown the promotional video that was put online. And despite agreeing to be better to Lincoln, they instead snapped and so all bets were off. Some fellow school students thought it was for the best that Lincoln's sisters would not appear on the big screen, even for just a post-credits scene, as everyone who saw the video had learned that the girls were just taking advantage of everything, including Lincoln. Other students felt betrayed and believed Lincoln was to blame, but after the pranks that consumed Royal Woods Elementary School, those students were quick to get smart and and decided that Lincoln was no longer worth the trouble, as nothing would change nor be gained by tormenting him any longer. Despite this, for the rest of fifth grade, Lincoln continued his private tutoring and class lessons with Mrs. Johnson.
In time, the judges of the contest who failed to acknowledge Lincoln and Clyde at the con, turned all their attention to the Loud sisters who cosplayed their characters, and disqualified the boys for their honesty were highly displeased when they found out that their contest turned out to be a wasted effort in their eyes. They demanded both Bill Buck and movie director Don Lee to use the footage for the movie by threatening to sue them, but this was not taken well. The two old men not only refused, but asked the judges to be more respectful of Lincoln Loud's choices and that they might have made the wrong choices by picking random people who got all the attention just by showing up and furthermore, had little to no interest in the actual comic series. This in turn made the judges so furious, seeing what Lincoln did as a mere act of jealousy to sabotage everything, that they publicly announced in an online video revenge against the white-haired boy. They might have foolishly believed that owing to their positions they would not get caught or stopped. In the end, the Loud sisters took action by rallying the Royal Woods populace and calling for Lincoln's safety, so law enforcement agreed to place the judges on probation until things blew over. Would the judges get over it? No one could tell, but while under probation, if they tried anything, they'd be held in contempt and charged for threatening a minor.
Although the Loud sisters redeemed themselves in the eyes of their parents, Lincoln and Lucy still chose to live under Lyra's roof for the foreseeable future. Mainly, Lincoln was just not sure he could take any more chances with his other sisters, as he had suffered at the hands of their annoying antics far too many times to count and over time, it had built up, affecting his mental health, and his whole family saw it for themselves. And Lucy wanted to stay with Lincoln for as long as he wanted to stay at his home away from home. Lyra was more than willing to look after both the brother and sister and since Lucy had her eyes exposed, she in fact didn't go around staring mindlessly or at Lyra, Lincoln, and/or Charles. And even then, Lyra had her own gentle way of bringing Lucy out of a trance owing to her professional qualifications as a child specialist. From Lucy's point of view, she felt more free and expressive as a person without her parents and other sisters possibly holding her back. And she and Lincoln soon grew closer than ever, practically becoming inseparable as siblings. Of course, the white-haired boy didn't often get complete privacy owing to sharing a room, but without the otherwise surrounding rowdiness, he didn't mind the company of Lucy or Lyra, or both. Also, Lucy seemed to be rid of her habit to suddenly appear near Lincoln and startle him. Either she felt like she didn't have to or she wanted to respect his recovering mental health.
One night, Lyra came to check up on Lincoln and Lucy before they were about to go to sleep for the night. Charles was relaxing on their bed.
"I still feel like a part of me wishes this never happened," said Lincoln.
"You know we still see a few of our sisters at school," said Lucy. "But I'm just glad you're recovering, Lincoln."
"Yeah."
"That's right," said Lyra. "Things will work out yet, I'm sure, but it'll just take time. I promised your mom I would look after both of you. And I will... with all of my heart." She kissed both of their foreheads. "Good night."
"Good night," both Lucy and Lincoln said and snuggled together in their sleep.
Three years later, Lincoln and Lucy returned home.
THE END