It was a typical day in Royal Woods as 4yr old Luna Loud waited with her two older sisters, Lori and Leni. And her two younger sisters, Luan and Lynn Jr… The girls were being watched by their grandfather Albert or Pop-pop; their parents had left for the hospital a while ago due to their mother, Rita going into labor.
"I can't wait to meet our new baby brother. Said Leni.
"I bet he'll be literally adorable." Said Lori.
"I'm gonna teach him sports!" Cheered Lynn.
"I'm gonna teach him great jokes." Laughed Luan.
"Aren't you excited too, Luna?" Asked Leni.
"Uh, yeah."
In honesty, Luna wasn't excited about her brother because she knew the truth, this wasn't a memory; this was a dream, no, a nightmare. The same nightmare she's had for a while now. Ever since, she told her brother how she wished he was a stillborn or a miscarriage. She knew in a few seconds; her "parents" would return distraught, holding Lincoln, who was stillborn; her sisters would have a breakdown along with Pop-Pop before someone would blame her, then she'd wake up in a cold sweat.
'I wonder who's gonna blame me this time."
Suddenly, they hear a car horn pulling up the driveway; the girls look out the window to see a limo in the driveway. Stepping out was a woman with medical gear on her face holding something wrapped up in a blanket with an Eagle, then several men in black, and finally, a happy Lynn Sr. and Rita stepped out. The girls were excited, and so was Albert, who rushed to the door. Luna was confused as she watched the lady hand off the bundle to Rita before getting back in her limo along with the men in black and driving off. Luna knew this was not how this nightmare went; this dream seems more accurate to her memory.
"Kids, come meet your new baby brother Lincoln."
The girls rushed out, though Luna was hesitant as she stayed behind the doorway. Rita then kneeled, allowing her daughters to meet Lincoln as she removed the blanket over his head.
"He's perfect," said the girls, minus Luna.
"He sure is." Said, Albert.
Luna reluctantly stuck her head out, watching from a distance until Rita noticed her.
"Luna, sweetie, don't be shy. Say hello to Lincoln." Said Rita.
Luna walks slowly to her mother as her sisters part ways to let her through. Upon seeing Lincoln, whose eyes opened too, greeting her with a smile made her heart melt.
"Hello, Lincoln," she said, making him giggle.
"Would you like to hold him?" Asked Rita.
"No fair, we wanna hold him too!" The other girls protested.
"You'll all get your chance, but let Luna have this one."
Rita gently passed Lincoln to Luna, who gently snuggled against her. Luna, at that moment, was the happiest she had ever been, as Luna was about to say something when suddenly she heard a familiar voice from above her.
YOU WHITE-HAIRED CHIPPED-TOOTH BASTARD, WHY COULDN'T YOU BE A MISCARRIAGE OR STILLBORN?!
Everyone gasped, including Luna, who could see the shock on Lincoln's face.
"Luna, how could you say that!?" Asked Rita, horrified.
"But I didn't!"
"Don't lie to your mother. That was clearly your voice!" Said Lynn Sr…
Suddenly everyone heard Lincoln crying as he squirmed in Luna's arms.
"Now, see what you did. You made the little guy cry." Scolded Albert.
"I didn't mean to."
"You meant to; why else would you say that?!" Said Lori.
Luna looked down at Lincoln, trying to get him to stop crying.
"Please don't cry, Lincoln; I…I didn't mean it." She whispered.
Lincoln's cry only worsened, and to everyone's horror, his tears turned red like blood.
"Stop it, Luna. You're hurting him!" Screamed Leni.
"Give him back to mom." Said Luan."
As Luna was about to give Lincoln back to Rita, to her horror, he started turning to ash in Luna's arms before crumbling away.
"Oh my GOD!" Screamed Albert.
Rita screamed at the top of her lungs, along with the girls.
"What have you done, you little monster!?" Screamed Lynn Sr.
Luna said nothing as she dropped to her knees and hands covered in the ashes that used to be her baby brother; tears fell from her face.
"Lincoln, come back. I didn't mean it; I was just angry. I didn't want this!"
YOU MEANT EVERY WORD, LUNA LOUD, AND YOU CAN'T TAKE IT BACK.
Recognizing that voice, Luna looked up to see August Smith standing over, her family nowhere in sight. On instinct, Luna tried to run but found herself stuck. Looking down, she wasn't in her brother's ashes anymore. It was a black tar-like goo that glowed red, she started sinking into it as Smith was an inch away from grabbing her.
"No…No…NO!" Luna screamed, and everything faded to black.
Suddenly Luna's eyes shot open as she sat in her bed, screaming no. Luan was scared awake as she jumped out of bed into a fighting stance.
"What is it!? What's going on?!"
Luan then looked to see Luna breathing heavily as she clutched her blanket.
"Luna? You had the dream again?"
"No, dude… it was… worse, Lincoln was crying, then blood and ash, then Smith ,and then I was about to be eaten by black slime, then I."
"Luna, calm down and start from the beginning." Said Luan.
Luna took a deep breath before she started telling her sister about her nightmare from start to finish, shocking Luan."
"Wow."
"Why Luan, why couldn't I see he was telling the truth?" "Why did I let the stress from being in that damn festival get to me?"
"Festival?"
"Don't you remember?"
"Not really."
"Okay, you know how Lincoln used to help my band by acting as our manager sometimes?"
"Yeah."
"Well, Mazzy signed the moon goats to play at a big rock festival at the last minute."
"Right, I'm starting to remember…. Lincoln said something about Mazzy going behind his back."
"Yeah, normally, bands sign up months in advance, but it was at the last minute. We only had a month to make two new songs and rehearse them, and this was one of the biggest festivals; if we backed out, we wouldn't be allowed to play there ever."
"Why would Mazzy put you guys in such a spot?"
"It was her dream to play there, plus it was the first time it was going to be so close, so she signed us up, saying it was our chance to get into the big leagues." Said a sad Luna.
"But that's too much pressure."
"Then that picture happened, and after all of that, we didn't get to perform; Mazzy and Sully had to play without Sam and me," Luna said. "We should've cut our losses and accepted that we weren't ready." She lamented.
Luna then looked up at Luan, hoping she could answer this question.
"Luan, you know me best out of everyone in this house. If you had to guess, why do you think I've been such a bitch to Lincoln about all this?" Luna asked.
Luan looked uncomfortable, though it was unclear whether it was from the question or desire to sleep.
"You really want to hear?" Luan asked cautiously.
"Yes, do you have an answer that I don't?" Luna insisted.
"Alright, well, to be honest, Luna, I think a part of you wants to be a victim in this family."
"What?" Luna asked, surprised and confused.
"You came out to us, which took guts, and we all accepted you with open arms. All of us, and as far as I know, no one has been homophobic to you. I could be wrong, but I myself haven't seen or heard about it. A perfect situation for you, right?"
"Yeah, of course. What about it?" Luna asked, not getting the point.
"I've heard stories of people who came out to their families and were immediately treated terribly for it. Insulted, disowned, disinherited, you name it. They were cast out with nothing but the shirts on their backs and sometimes were lucky enough to get help from others with much more open minds than their families. But then it turned out that the families didn't do those horrible things. They did accept their kids, but the public didn't know that, so the kids lied and pretended to be victims of homophobia in order to get sympathy and support from strangers."
"That's ridiculous." Luna objected.
"Is it? Think about what happens to the people who come out as gay and get disowned but then get media attention. What usually happens?" Luan challenged.
Luna thought it over, and the examples that came to mind were very much like what her sister had described. Put out on the street or forced to live with friends or other relatives, yet many people came to their aid. The victims received love and support and were treated as martyrs or examples of the prejudice against the LGBTQ community, while those that disowned them were scorned and chastised by anyone who could get ahold of them.
"Are you saying that I wanted you guys to reject me? That I wanted to be disowned and kicked out?" Luna asked.
"No, I think you wanted to have your cake and eat it too. That was the point of my story, the people who came out were accepted at home, but they wanted to be seen as 'empowered' by overcoming bigotry. So they lied and made it look like they were rejected so that they could have the best of both. I think that you wanted to pretend someone in this family didn't approve of you, so you could make them a bad guy to the public and thus make yourself look better by having to deal with them."
"That's not true!" Luna stated, starting to get angry.
"Is it? Does this sound familiar to you?"
Luan put a hand over her heart to make it look like she was hurt. "Oh woe is me; my brother destroyed my love life. He doesn't approve of us being together, he thinks he can take my love away from me. My brother doesn't understand what it's like to be me, what struggles I have to live with. I'm such a victim. But I must be strong, I can't let his selfishness break me, I must be the bigger person. But it would be nice if he had to suffer instead just to see what it's like for a change."
Luan then snapped her fingers as if an idea came to her. "Oh I know, I'll turn all my friends and his friends against him. I'll make him a social pariah just like how he wanted me to be. Then he'll see what it's like. People will hate him and love me, and maybe I'll get more chances to become famous after everyone hears my story of overcoming a homophobe in my own house."
"Shut up! I never said any of that! His friends ruined his social life!" Luna shouted, tears rolling down her face.
"Well, you must have wished for it."
"That's not true at all! I didn't want that!"
"Really, Luna? You wished he had never been born, you tried to turn his girlfriend against him, and if you still thought that photo was real, you'd be doing it until you moved out, maybe even after. If you didn't want to build up your own reputation by destroying Lincoln's own, what did you want?" Luan asked.
Luna just sat there, shedding more tears.
"Maybe I am wrong. Honestly, sis, I hope I am; I really do. But until you can answer that question, I'm going to stick with the one that makes the most sense to me." Luan stated before laying back down in her bed.
"And another thing, if I am right, then that means that if it had been me in that picture instead of Lincoln, you'd have treated me like crap for those three months instead of him. Or am I wrong on that part?" Luan added, turning away to not look at her sister anymore.
Luna couldn't speak, but the sounds of quiet crying played throughout the night like a tortured lullaby. Luna wonders if what Luan said has any merit if she really feels that way. As she wept herself back to sleep, she thought back to when she hit her head trying to come up with a new song for the festival; now more than ever, she hoped that she was still out cold and the last few months had been nothing more than a coma nightmare. Luan felt terrible about what she had said to Luna; despite feeling that she might have a point, she thought she was not in a position to call out anyone.
That Morning
All the girls were sitting at the table eating. Luna and Luan had an awkward silence; the rest picked up.
"Uh, you girls okay?" Asked Lynn Sr.
"We don't want to talk about it!" They replied.
A month and a half had passed since Lincoln and Ronnie Anne defeated the white dragons. Lori is still doing her online classes and was granted permission to return to campus when she is ready. Most of the girls tried moving on; Lynn Jr. seemed the most affected as she started getting into fights with other kids, namely the bullies. Rita then noticed that Lincoln was missing.
"Did anyone see Lincoln?" Asked Rita, but everyone shook their heads no.
As if on cue, the front door opens up with Lincoln walking in, yawning.
"Lincoln!?" Said Rita as he walked in.
"Oh, hi, mom."
"Living room now, young man!" Scolded Rita.
Both parents went to confront their son in the living room while the girls listened.
"What are you doing coming home at this hour?" Said Rita.
"We only agreed to let you do this as long as it doesn't affect your school life." Said Lynn Sr.
Lincoln took a deep breath; he knew this would take a lot of explaining.
"I'm sorry… I really am; I didn't mean to, but I got caught up in one crazy situation after another"
"Explain." They said,
Lincoln takes a deep breath. "Okay, last night, after I finished my patrol, I was on my way home when I sensed a magical disturbance through the historama."
"Historama?" Asked Rita.
"Remember the pool of liquid silver."
"Right."
"I Went to investigate; along the way, Ronnie Anne joined me; we headed to the source of the problem, and we found monsters."
"Monsters?" Lynn Sr repeated.
"Yeah, a lot of weird creatures started showing up. Like giant rats, flying octopuses, demons, and walking skeletons. It was like a Halloween haunted house going too far. They put up a fight, but the weird part was when we fought them, they just... disappeared and reappeared. One punch and, poof, they're gone, then you look away, and they're back again. Ronnie Anne and I couldn't make them stop until we found something."
"You found what?" Lynn Sr asked.
Lincoln reached into his pockets and pulled out two large pieces of gems resembling rubies; their cut made them look like pieces to a puzzle.
"We found that the monsters seemed to keep reappearing around certain areas, and when we checked, we found these. We took them and used some electricity on them, and then the monsters just disappeared for good this time. After collecting the first one in Central City, we sensed the same thing happening in Star City, Metropolis, and Gotham City; we had four pieces by this morning, we have idea what they are and neither does Mary."
"You traveled all over the country in one night?" Lynn Sr asked.
"Super speed and a strong motive." was all Lincoln said.
"So that's why you're late?" asked Rita.
"We were going to store them in the rock of eternity, but Mary told us that the fragments have a lot of negative energy stored fear to be exact, and it wouldn't be wise to store them there without dispelling the energy within them, so tonight we're going to dispel the energy in them, in the meantime, we split the four pieces between us. Thought having them together for too long would be a bad idea." Lincoln
"Okay, son, we get it. This wasn't your fault." said Lynn Sr.
"Thanks, guys. I just need to store these until tonight."
"Nope, I'll take care of that," said Lynn Sr. taking the fragments.
"But Dad."
"no buts, I'll put them up in a container and store it in the basement; you can get them later, but for now, you have to get ready for school."
Lincoln sighed in defeat before reaching into his pocket, pulling out a sticker with a lighting bolt, and handing it to his father.
"What's this,"
"After we found the last one in Gotham, we realized that no one was following us. It was either because we were too strong, or they weren't morning people since the sun was rising."
"And the sticker?" Asked Rita
"It's a cloaking spell; once dad puts these things in a container, this will keep them from being tracked. If whoever planted these things can't be out during the day, they'll come looking for them tonight. This will ensure they can't find them." Lincoln explained.
"Okay, I understand; now go get ready for school."
"Thanks, dad." Said Lincoln heading upstairs.
Taking the pieces into the kitchen, Lynn Sr. looked for a proper container until settling on a black and red metal tin, placing them in it and on the counter.
"Okay, oh, I almost forgot."
Pulling out a second tin, Lynn Sr. then opened the refrigerator and pulled out a plate of cookies, pouring them into the second tin and closing it.
"Lucy, don't forget the cookies for your club meeting."
"I didn't, thanks," Lucy said, appearing behind her father.
Lynn Sr. jumped in fright after being spooked by his daughter again, knocking both tins onto the floor in the process.
"Ding dang darn it, Lucy, you have to stop doing that!"
"Sorry, father." Lucy apologized, picking up one of the tins.
"It's okay, sweetie, but remember your sister Lynn Jr. is coming to pick you up after your club meeting."
"Yes, father," Lucy said, leaving.
Picking up the other tin, Lynn Sr. placed the sticker before making his way to the basement.
"Lincoln, your bus will be here any minute! And super speed is no excuse for missing it!"
…Later…
At Royal Woods High, Luna was making her way to the music room to eat her lunch, the same thing she did every lunch period. However, she knew she'd be eating alone. In the past, she, Sam, Mazzy, and Sully would meet up in the music room and have lunch, then jam out for the rest of the period. Nowadays, that seems like a distant memory; Luna never really spoke to Mazzy after she slapped her for bringing up Sam's issues about her father. After the picture got out, Mazzy and Sully stayed distant from Sam and Luna, confused about the whole situation, and with the truth out, they had a whole new reason to avoid her. The moon goats were essentially done; now, Luna sits alone, remembering.
"It can't be true what Luan said; I couldn't have intended to make myself look better by making Lincoln look worse. I can't really be that kind of person."
Luna had been thinking about Luan's theory all day; the very thought of being the person that Luan described horrified her. She knew there were plenty of people who came out to their families and were, in fact, thrown out and disowned without a second thought, so the idea that anyone would pretend to be a victim of that just to get attention was disgusting to her.
But Luna admitted Luan did have one solid point, if it had been any of her sisters in Lincoln's place, she'd still have reacted the same way. Then again, it would have made more sense if it were one of them. Luna knew Sam was a lesbian; she had no interest in boys, so why did she think Sam would ever cheat on her for Lincoln?
"Man, I'm such an idiot."
Before Luna could think about it more, she heard the music room door open, and to her surprise, Mazzy stepped in.
"Hey, Luna, I thought I'd find you here."
"Mazzy? Why are you here?"
"Look, I wanted to-"
"Tell me what an idiot I am, don't bother. I've heard it from everyone."
"No, to apologize."
"What?"
"If I hadn't signed the band up without asking, none of this would have happened. I only thought of myself, and it cost us Sam, the band, and our friendships. I put all this pressure on you in the end. I didn't even try to help when this picture thing started; I just backed out of the drama between you and Sam like it wasn't my problem when it was my fault."
"We're all at fault, Mazzy; the only people not at fault are Sam and Lincoln. But thanks. At least you can admit you were wrong from the start. It took months to see I was an idiot."
"I should've said something sooner."
"We all should have done a lot of things sooner. But unless you've got a time machine, apologizing over and over again is just going to get old." Luna stated, as much for herself as for Mazzy.
"So then, what do we do?" Mazzy asked.
"If I knew that, I wouldn't be having nightmares every night." Luna sighed.
"Have you been keeping in touch with Chunk?" Asked Mazzy.
"We haven't seen each other since he dropped off proof the picture was fake. He said he had a gig in Boston, and he was dropping off a copy of the proof to Sam, but I've been following his band online, and I know he has a gig in Gotham City next week."
"I see."
"How is Sully?"
"He's okay; we haven't hung out a lot since the festival, but he's been okay."
"I see,"
"Well, I better get going; I don't want to bother you any longer."
"Mazzy, if you want to stay, I'm cool. It's pretty lonely without you guys."
"Thanks, Luna; next time, I'll bring Sully."
"I'd like that."
…Later…
After school at Royal Woods Elementary, Lucy was on her way to the Royal Woods cemetery along with the rest of the Morticians club, Haiku, Boris, Dante, Morpheus, and Persephone. The group decided to walk to their meeting spot with Lucy in deep thought.
"So Lucy, how are things at home?" Haiku asked.
"Sigh, the same, but Lincoln is no longer hostile, so maybe some progress."
"Boris thinks you should give him more time."
"Yeah, he'll come around when he's ready," Dante assured.
"Might still be a while; you guys were real jerks to him." Morpheus chimed in.
"Morpheus!" Berated Persephone.
"I'm just stating facts."
"It's fine, let's just get to the cemetery. It will get dark early."
…Later That Evening…
As the Morticians club's meeting was wrapping up, Lucy knew Lynn would be here to take her home any minute.
"Okay, now that the meeting is over, we can enjoy these cookies my dad made."
Going into her backpack, Lucy looked for the tin glancing at her princess pony book before pulling out the tin and handing it to Boris.
"uh, Lucy, these don't look like cookies," said Dante.
Lucy locked up to her surprise; she saw Boris holding two pieces of rubies that looked like they are part of a larger Ruby. Lucy was confused but remembered this morning when she scared her father, making him knock over the two tins on the counter.
"Oh no, I took the wrong tin; those belong to Lincoln."
"How did your brother get his hands on these rubies?" Asked Haiku.
"I don't know, but I have to get these back home before he notices," she said, putting the tin back in her bag.
"Yeah, if he sees this, he'll think you tried robbing him and you're an even bigger jerk." Morpheus chimed in again.
"Morpheus!" Berated Persephone again."
"Again stating facts."
Suddenly they all heard a voice calling for Lucy.
"Lucy"! Called Lynn.
Lynn came riding in on her bike, relieved to see nothing had happened to Lucy.
"Lucy, c'mon, we need to go back home. NOW!"
"I don't have my bike."
"Stand on the bars sticking on my back wheel. We gotta go."
Lucy nodded and did just that, riding off and leaving her friends.
"Does this mean Boris gets no cookies?"
Lynn raced back to the house, Lucy holding on for life.
"You got that tin with those gem pieces, right?"
"How did you know about that?"
"Okay, I was getting ready to go get you, but I got curious about the tin, so I went to check it out. Lori caught me and made me drop it; in the middle of yelling at me, we realized cookies were in the tin, so I rushed to get you."
"What about Lori?"
"Lori couldn't come, Leni took the others in Vanzilla, and mom and dad took Lori's car. She tried calling them, but their phones are off because they're meeting with Mr. Bolhofner and Principal Ramirez with Lincoln."
"What happened?"
"Lincoln got into a fight with Chandler and claimed Lincoln started it, so he had gotten detention."
"We should hurry."
"I'm moving as fast as I can. We just need to get it home and swap out the lids before someone or something comes looking for those things."
"Why didn't you just bring the lid with you?"
Lynn's face turned to shock, realizing what she could have done to make the situation less dire.
"Stupid!" She said, facepalming.
"Lynn, in front of you."
Forced to make a quick stop, the two skidded almost into Hank and Hawk, the two bullies that nearly ruined last Halloween.
'Oh great, these two.' Thought Lynn.
"Watch where you're going!" said Hank.
"Hey, don't we know you two?" Said Hawk.
"I remember the one in the back. She's that spooky girl from last Halloween, so what's in the bag, Spooky girl?" Mocked Hank.
"None of your business; now get out of our way." Growled Lynn.
The two bullies then flipped over Lynn's bike, knocking them both to the ground before grabbing Lucy's bag; however, Lucy and Lynn held onto the other end.
"Make this easier on us all and give it up already," warned Hank.
"Let go, you jerks!" Growled Lynn.
"Make us!" Mocked Hawk.
Lynn and Lucy struggled with Hawk and Hank until the bag couldn't take the strain anymore, tearing in half. Falling to the ground, Lucy watched as the contents of her bag spilled on the ground.
"My bag!" Said Lucy.
"Too bad for you, and well…well…well, what do we have here?" Said Hawk after picking up Lucy's Princess Pony book.
Lynn was surprised as she turned to Lucy, who was blushing with embarrassment. Hank looked disgusted as he looked as if he was going to barf.
"Eww, Princess Pony, I think I'm gonna puke."
"Dude, don't puke. You're gonna make me wanna puke; what kind of spooky girl goes around reading this ball of fluff?" Said Hawk.
"I…I."
"Looks like this spooky girl ain't so spooky." Mocked Hank.
"What a faker." Insulted Hawk.
Lucy's face looked twisted with pain; seeing her sister embarrassed by their insults made Lynn even angrier.
"Who are you jerks to judge my little sister?!"
"What!?" Asked Hank.
"You better apologize, or I'm gonna shove your head up his ass!" Threatened Lynn.
"I'd like to see you try." Replied Hawk.
"Dude, forget about her; check these out." Said Hank.
Hank lifted the tin holding the gem pieces showing off the contents to Hawk.
"Dude, what are they?"
"I don't know, but I bet we can sell them; thanks, ladies." Mocked Hank.
"Oh no, you don't!"
Lynn slammed her foot down on Hank's face forcing him to jump in pain.
"My bunion!" Yelled Hank.
Lynn then stomped on Hawk's foot, making him jump around too.
"My corn!" Yelled Hawk.
Lynn took the tin, passing it behind her back to Lucy, instructing her to run when the opportunity was there while she got into a fighting stance. Both bullies recovered and were ready to attack.
"We're gonna turn you into human pretzels."
Lynn readied herself, but suddenly her pupils shrunk as her arms went slack, and she began trembling in fear. Hank and Hawk began to smirk, thinking they were intimidating her.
"Well, look at her all talk." mocked Hawk.
Suddenly both bullies were grabbed by their necks and lifted.
"What…the?" They struggled to say.
Suddenly the two were now facing a half-man, half-bat creature who roared. It stood nine feet tall, covered in dark gray fur, its wings attached to its arms and side like a wingsuit. It has large sharp claws and three-toed talons. Both bullies screamed at the top of their voices, followed by a loud fart from Hawk and the sound of running water from Hank.
"Dude, did you just poop your pants?" Asked Hank.
"You wet yourself." Defend Hawk.
The bat creature then sniffed them, becoming disgusted and tossing them aside. As the bullies ran, the beast turned his attention to Lynn and Lucy.
"Give Jeepers stones! He ordered.
"Jeepers? What kind of name is Jeepers?" Mocked Lynn making Jeepers growl.
Both girls back away, angering him as he advances on them. Suddenly the high beams from a car came driving by, blinding Jeepers.
"My eyes, light too bright! Jeepers
Taking advantage of their attacker's blindness, Lynn and Lucy hopped back onto Lynn's bike and took off. Lynn rode as fast as she could, not knowing what to do or where to go. Suddenly they heard a whizzing sound as if something was cutting through the air, coming for them. Before they knew what hit them, both girls were snatched up by their necks and lifted into the air. The two were being held by Jeeper's clawed feet as he flew them high into the air.
"You can't escape Jeepers; give Jeepers stones, or Jeepers will drop you."
"No way." Said Lucy.
Angered, Jeepers was about to drop them both when he suddenly saw something coming. In a flash, Ronnie Anne appeared powered up and ready to fight.
"Ronnie Anne?" Thought Lucy.
"Great, as if this night couldn't get any worse." Thought Lynn.
"Let them go, now, or get fried!"
Ronnie Anne charged up her fist, ready to blast, but Jeepers lifted his feet, putting Lynn and Lucy in the way, and forcing her to stop.
"You bring Jeepers; rest of stone or Jeepers will snap necks."
Ronnie Anne was stuck. She had no idea how to take this thing down without risking their lives.
"Fine, but if you hurt them."
"they safe for now; you have ten minutes before Jeepers gets angry."
Ronnie Anne raced back to Great lake City as fast as she could, reaching the apartment's roof; as Ronnie Anne landed, she called out.
Shazam!
Returning to normal as she landed on the roof, Ronnie Annie wondered how this night had turned around like this. After explaining everything to her family & hiding away her pieces. Ronnie Anne's day was pretty standard, that is, until during skate practice at the park. Getting an urgent call from Rosa, who Lori contacted, Ronnie Anne rushed off while Sid covered for her. Transforming, Ronnie Anne first stopped at Lincoln's school, hoping to get him out to help, but he and his parents were locked in a heated argument with Chandler. She was heading downstairs to the secret room where she hid her pieces and had Lalo guard.
"Good boy Lalo." She said, grabbing the container.
Ronnie Anne rushed back to the roof; once reaching the top, she called out.
Shazam!
Powered up again, Ronnie Anne fled back to Royal Woods, finding Jeepers still hovering, having already taken the tin from Lucy.
"Give Jeeper, rest of dream stone!"
"Dream Stone?" She thought
"NOW!" He threatened, tightening his grip around Lynn and Lucy's neck.
"Fine, take it!"
Ronnie Anne tossed the container to Jeepers, who was happy to have all the pieces back.
"Now! Let them go!"
Jeeper gives a sinister smile before releasing his talons, dropping them both.
"You son of a!"
Ronnie Anne dived down after the girls, catching Lucy first. Instructing Lucy to get on her back, Ronnie Anne then grabbed Lynn and brought them both to a safe landing. Looking up, Ronnie Anne saw no sign of Jeepers, nor could she track him.
"Dang it."
Shazam!
Powered up again, Ronnie Anne fled back to Royal Woods, finding Jeepers still hovering, having already taken the tin from Lucy.
"Give Jeeper rest of dream stone!"
"Dream Stone?" She thought
"NOW!" He threatened, tightening his grip around Lynn and Lucy's neck.
"Fine, take it!"
Ronnie Anne tossed the container to Jeepers, who was happy to have all the pieces back.
"Now! Let them go!"
Jeeper gives a sinister smile before releasing his talons, dropping them both.
"You son of a-!"
Ronnie Anne dived down after the girls, catching Lucy first. Instructing Lucy to get on her back, Ronnie Anne then grabbed Lynn and brought them both to a safe landing. Looking up, Ronnie Anne saw no sign of Jeepers, nor could she track him.
"Dang it."
Shazam!
Powered down, Ronnie Anne looked annoyed, wondering about the trouble that was coming.
"Um, thank you for saving us." Said Lucy.
"Yeah, whatever." Mumbled Lynn.
Ronnie Anne picked up on Lynn's attitude but ignored it, offering to walk them home.
"We can get home fine; you can leave." Said Lynn.
"I'm doing this for Lincoln, not you. So you can be a little grateful I offered in the first place."
"Right, for "Lincoln". Because you "always" have been there for Lincoln."
"What's that supposed to mean!?"
"Whatever, let's go, Lucy; you wanna follow Santiago? Be my guest!"
Lynn grabbed Lucy, and the two walked off, with Ronnie Anne following, visibly annoyed. Back at the house, Leni and the others had arrived home though Lincoln and their parents hadn't yet. Upon entering, Lucy went in first, followed by Lynn. While Lynn entered, she heard the rest of the girls thank Ronnie Anne and her half-hearted "you're welcome." Angered, Lynn slammed the door in Ronnie Anne's face. Ronnie Anne was about to kick the door in but heard arguing from the other side.
"Lynn, what is wrong with you?!" Scolded Lori.
"What's wrong with me? What the hell is wrong with all of you? Why are you all kissing her ass like she deserves it? Especially when we know she's been talking smack about us to her family."
"She saved our lives a bunch of times." Reminded Luan.
"That doesn't give her the right to look down on us like she's better."
"Dude, she was the only one besides Lily who didn't buy that stupid photo while we were all jerks to Lincoln. She IS better." Said Luna.
"What's her excuse for the things she did before the photo? You know, when she used to pick on him when they were in elementary school?"
None of the girls answered, but Lynn already had the answer.
"Don't you remember what you said, Lori? "when a girl picks on you, it can only mean one thing she likes you."?" Mocked Lynn.
"I…well, we were right." Defend Lori.
"So what? That just makes it a double standard. Face it, if Lincoln had picked on her you would have called him a bully, but when she does it it's flirting? And on that matter, she calls him stinking and Lame-O like I do, so why is it bullying when I do it but flirting when she does it? Why is she Lady Shazam, when she doesn't deserve to be?"
"Is that what this is really about, Lynn?" Asked Lori.
"You think you deserve those powers more than her?" Asked Lisa.
"what would you do if you got chosen?" Asked Lana.
"Besides cheating at sports of course." Said Lola.
"And while you have a point to an extent, Ronnie Anne's past actions weren't done out of malice. Plus she's proven to be a good person and makes better choices than we have," explained Lucy.
Lynn could only look at her sisters as if they had just said the dumbest thing she had ever heard.
"1. No, I don't deserve those powers; the only person who deserves them is Lily. 2. Even if I did have powers, I would never cheat. I have too much pride to do something like that. 3. So being a bully is okay as long as you're good at your core? you have got to be kidding me." groans Lynn. "I admit I was way too rough with Lincoln, but I didn't mean any harm; I even took over his football games for him. So what makes me worse than her?"
"You also forced him to come to your game with a bat when he clearly told you he didn't want to, and you called him bad luck when you lost." pointed out Lucy.
Lynn clenched her fists upon hearing that her sister reminded her of that, Lucy feared an outburst, but Lynn took a deep breath.
"Look, I get it; I shouldn't have forced Lincoln to come when he didn't want to; I blamed him for losing because I didn't want to admit someone was better, so I used him as a scapegoat," explained Lynn. "I own everything I did and every part I played that got us here; I deserve this, it's a hard pill to swallow, but I swallow it every day."
The girls, minus Lily, all nodded, knowing they each have to swallow that same pill for both similar and different reasons.
"I admit she has every right to be angry at us for trying to ruin her relationship with Lincoln, even if she did the same once with you and Bobby."
"Lynn, Ronnie Anne didn't cause that breakup; Bobby admitted he overreacted."
"Look, all I'm saying is that we're all getting our karma paid back for how we treated Lincoln; why isn't she getting hers? Just because she is doing right by Lincoln now and a superhero doesn't mean she doesn't have to own up to her mistakes." Said Lynn as she walked up the stairs.
Lucy followed behind her, about to ask her if she was going to tell the others about her book.
"Lynn, why are you assuming that Ronnie Anne hasn't?" Luan asked.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Lynn asked back, not expecting a response like that.
"You talk as if Ronnie Anne is still doing all those bad things to Lincoln. As if she's still picking on him. As if... she were one of us. But you don't actually know her or what she's done since then. Lincoln trusts her, a hell of a lot more than he does us or even Clyde, in my eyes that tells me that she's earned his trust and his forgiveness. Which means that the last thing she would be doing is hurting him or never apologizing for the hurt she already caused. So did it ever occur to you that she has owned her mistakes and made up for them and you just weren't there to see it?"
Lynn looked at her sisters seeing that they were agreeing with Luan. "But wouldn't we have at least heard about it?"
"How would we? I mean, Lincoln doesn't tell us everything, even before this whole mess started." Lana pointed out.
"I still would feel better if I actually saw her pay for her own mistakes like we're expected to." Lynn hmmphed.
"And what would be enough for you to be satisfied?" Luna asked, sounding like she knew full well her own question could be applied to her too.
The sisters were silent, Lynn unable to give an answer that would satisfy them or even herself. And that bothered her because she knew it meant she was being petty and jealous.
"If we're going to talk about owning our mistakes, I'll got one to confess." Spoke up Lucy, sounding like this was the last thing in the world she wanted to do. "Remember when the toilet was clogged by that pony book? The truth is... it was mine."
All eyes widened at his declaration. Even Lynn, who despite what had happened earlier still didn't actually think her sister and roommate would claim such a thing.
"Really? You read those?" Lola asked.
"Lucy, I never would have guessed." Leni added.
"It seems so... uncharacteristic. Do you really enjoy them?" Luan asked.
"Yeah, I thought you had that in your bag so your goth friends could make fun of it." Lynn said, then saw everyone look at her. "We got ambushed by some creeps and they pulled another book out. After that things got weird."
Lucy slowly took her aforementioned book out of her bag for everyone to see. "Even I need a break from darkness and gloom once in a while. Like how Luna will do other forms of music, or how Lynn can't play the same sport over and over again. But, like Luan said, this is not like me, and like Lincoln said, I'm afraid of being made fun of. So he took the blame so I didn't have to."
"We wouldn't have made fun of you." Lana assured.
"Are you sure? Look at how quick you were to make fun of Lincoln." Lucy reminded.
"Yeah but he's a boy, it's funny if he likes pink girly stuff." Lola noted.
"Ahem, then why would it not be funny if a gothic horror fan also liked pink girly stuff?" Lisa countered.
There was an awkward silence after that.
"My point exactly. You can't promise that you wouldn't have mocked me if I had confessed. And right now, the only reason you're not laughing at me is because of everything Lynn said before I brought this up." Lucy stated.
"Doesn't that mean you're not owning up to your mistake? You're just admitting it during the one time you can 'get away with it?" Leni asked.
Lucy sighed. "You're right; I'm not owning up; I'm just confessing. I don't owe you an apology, I owe Lincoln for not having his back when he needed me."
Suddenly the girls heard the crackling sound of lightning from outside; they all rushed to the window to see Ronnie Anne flying off.
"Do you think she was listening? '' asked Leni while the other girls just frowned.
Later
After finally getting out of that meeting, Lincoln transformed and met up with Ronnie Anne, who told him what had happened.
"damn it, if it weren't for Chandler, I would have been..." Growled Lincoln, unsure how to finish that.
"Lincoln, I have to know, have I made up for the past?"
"What?"
"I told you what I heard your sisters talking about. Have I made up for bullying you back in elementary school?"
"Ronnie Anne, look, I'll admit that you made elementary school hard for me sometimes, but you more than made up for that a long time ago. You've helped me time and time again when I was at my lowest. You've helped me stay focused and not let my anger control me when I became Shazam. Overall, you've helped me become a better person. In my book, you deserve to be Lady Shazam." Said Lincoln.
"Thanks, Linc, I needed to hear that; now we should go tell Mary what happened."
The two flew to Tall Timber Lake to speak to Mary.
"What happened?" asked Mary.
"The fragments were stolen from us, but we did learn what they are," said Lincoln.
"What are they?"
"they were pieces to something called a dream stone," informed Ronnie Anne.
Upon hearing that name, Mary turned paler than the moonlight, concerning both Lincoln And Ronnie Anne.
"Oh no!" said Mary as her pupils shrunk.
"What's wrong?" they asked.
"Listen to me, you two need to find those pieces fast, or your world will become a waking nightmare," she said right before the clouds rolled in, blocking off the moonlight.
Lincoln And Ronnie Anne looked at each other, thinking over what Mary had just warned them about; some might even say they were scared.
Elsewhere
Jeeper was standing in front of a large magical circle with four points in an unknown location. Each point had a piece of the dream stone sitting on it. In the center was a cauldron made of yellow energy; inside it was a black slime.
"Time to begin,"
Jeeper began speaking a chant, causing the pieces to glow before they began to rise up into the sky. The pieces flew over the cauldron before combining into a full stone with a perfectly circular cut. The stone then drops into the black slime, with Jeepers still chanting. Suddenly the slime started to boil as it began glowing black and red. Shooting out the cauldron like a geyser, the slime then slinked its way into a stream, disappearing into it. As Jeepers watched this, he smiled, knowing what he had unleashed onto the world.
"Hail to the NIGHTMARE!
End Of Ch. 16