A/N: Well this was certainly a surprise. I never expected this story to receive the attention it has gotten, but I'm glad those of you who commented and followed gave it a chance. After seeing the reception of the first chapter, I have decided to leave it up (though I may or may not make edits to it in future) and continue with it. As I said in the previous chapter, I know nothing about TLH and have had trouble with writing this story despite having 14 chapters outlined so far.

But I'll admit, seeing all the views and comments the first chapter received had inspired me on how to finish chapter 2. As such, here it is for your viewing. Once again I am open to betareaders for this story, but all the same let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Ch. 2 – Bad News

The young college student was driving through the residential streets of Royal Woods, looking forward to getting home. Lori had been back at the house for a few days by this point, but didn't spend as much time with her siblings as she wanted. She spent most of her first day back talking to her boyfriend Bobby Santiago and all of the next day with her mother.

As for today, she spent that morning with her father at his restaurant. Originally she was supposed to head home after dropping him off, but one of the staff called in sick and Lynn Sr. asked Lori to fill in at the last minute. This wasn't exactly how Lori planned to spend her day but she did it regardless. She didn't really mind anyway as it gave her the chance to spend some quality time with her father for the first time since she went to college.

As Lori pulled into the empty driveway (since Rita took Vanzilla to work) a sense of happiness came over her. She now had the whole day ahead to spend time with her siblings, just like it had been when she still lived here full time. She stepped out of her car, thinking about what today had in store. But as she walked up to the porch, she heard it.

'Oh no,' Lori thought to herself. Her mood soured when she heard the unmistakable sound of her sisters arguing coming through the front door. As Lori walked inside the sound of the argument got much louder, clearly coming from upstairs. Lori groaned angrily; this was not what she had in mind.

She looked around after reaching the top of the stairs and found the voices were coming from the twins' room. Quickly, she looked in her purse and found her whistle; the same one she always used when she acted as a drill sergeant to control her siblings. Practically stomping her way down the landing, Lori worked her way towards Lana and Lola's room. When she reached it, she opened the door and blew her whistle as loud as she could.

The rest of the girls jumped and shrieked at the sound of the whistle. But when they saw Lori staring angrily at them, nostrils flaring as she breathed, they all fell silent, shocked. None of them realized she had come home. But before any of them could say anything, Lori spoke. "All of you! My room! Now!"

"Bu-"

"MOVE IT," Lori bellowed, interrupting Leni when she tried to speak. Everyone filed out of the twins' room and into Lori's (which technically she still shared with Leni when she came home for the holidays) for the impromptu sibling meeting.

The girls all took their seats around the room. The initial shock of seeing their eldest sibling unexpectedly had not gone away, but it had faded to the point where they started exchanging glares at each other. Lori herself had not come in right after them, taking the time to calm herself down and gather her thoughts. When she finally entered the room to put her purse on the desk, whatever tension was left between the sisters disappeared completely and gave way to nervousness. They all waited anxiously for Lori to say something, knowing all too well what would follow. After standing at the desk for a moment, Lori finally turned around and addressed the room.

"I literally cannot believe this. I just don't believe it! Three days! Three days was literally all it took for something like this to happen since I came home! I mean, all right, I had a feeling something like this would happen but I didn't think it would be this early! And you…" Lori said as she turned to Leni.

"When I left for college I asked you to be the one to keep everyone in line. I knew you had some trouble in the beginning but you had shown improvement since then! I thought you would keep that up even when I would come home. Clearly, I was wrong."

Leni dejectedly looked to the floor. Despite how naïve she could be, it was especially so even for her to think Lori would retake charge when she came home. Even the rest of the girls felt bad for the fashionista after hearing Lori's comment. Lori sighed, realizing just how hard it hit.

"Look, I'm sorry for that last comment," she said, relaxing her face. "Like I said, you had been making progress since I first left and I'm proud of you for that." Leni looked up and gave a small smile, which Lori briefly returned. "But right now, we need to work on this." Lori turned to the rest of the girls. "That goes for all of you too. Just because I will be coming home every so often doesn't mean we're going back to the way it used to be before I left. Right now, we need to discuss what happened in the twins' room; and we're not leaving until…"

Lori stopping mid-sentence made the girls look at her confused. Why did she do that? It's not like Lori to end a lecture like that, especially since her demeanor changed so suddenly. They watched as Lori looked around the room. It was then Lori realized; somebody was missing. "Wait, where's Lincoln?"

The girls looked around. Sure enough, to their astonishment, their brother was absent. Lori's frustration returned. 'Ugh, he is literally gonna get it,' she thought to herself as she pinched the bridge of her nose. All that talk and one of them wasn't there to hear it. "Luna, go get him." The rocker looked in Lori's direction. "Why," she asked, in a somewhat bitter tone. Lori looked up, irritated. "Because he needs to be here for this," she replied.

"I'll say it again, why," Luna asked. "He has nothing to do with the argument." "And I will say it again; we all need to discuss this," Lori retorted quickly. Luna wanted to say something else, but Lori continued before she could say anything. "It doesn't matter if he was in on the argument or not." She paused for a few seconds to catch her breath and gather her thoughts. "Look, he may not have had anything to do with what happened earlier, but at the very least he needs to know what's going on. Maybe he can give us some ideas." "All right, fine," Luna said as she left the room.

After stepping out the door, Luna paused. She was actually glad she was out of the room. It gave her a chance to cool off and gather her thoughts before returning to their meeting. Luna still felt it was unnecessary for Lincoln to be in on this particular meeting. After all, he had nothing to do with their earlier argument. Moreover, there had been similar situations in the past where she and the others had arguments in which their brother had undeservingly got caught in the middle of. That had been on Luna's mind when she questioned the necessity of Lincoln's presence, but of course she didn't get to bring it up.

However, Lori did bring up a point in which he might have some ideas. Throughout their history, Lincoln had a record of being able to help them with any problems they had. Granted, he didn't solve all their issues (and there were plenty of times where they did things for him), but if there was anybody in the family who knew how to deal with them all, it was Lincoln. Still, this debate Luna had with herself probably wouldn't seem to matter. She knew that if she didn't bring Lincoln back with her soon, she was going to cop it from Lori. Now the question was where did she last see Lincoln?

After thinking for a moment, she remembered she last saw him earlier that morning in his room reading a comic book. She quickly walked to the door at the end of the hall. "Hey bro, sibling meeting in Lori's room," she said as she gave it a few knocks, "and if you don't come, Lori's gonna, huh?"

Luna stopped in her tracks after opening the door, completely surprised. Lincoln wasn't there. 'What the, where is he,' she thought. Luna glanced back towards Lori's room, just to make sure nobody came to see what was taking her so long. Looking back in Lincoln's room, Luna saw his comic book was still on his bed. 'Maybe he went downstairs,' she thought. It was late in the morning, so he might have went into the kitchen to get a snack. Luna decided to check while she had the time.

As she went down the stairs, Luna saw the TV was off. Lincoln wasn't watching a show or playing his video games on the console. She noticed there was nobody on the couch or in the chairs, so he wasn't playing with any of his handheld devices. He had to be in the kitchen. But as Luna entered the kitchen, she still didn't see him. Confused, she quickly looked out the window into the back yard, but she didn't see Lincoln outside.

This was really weird. He wasn't upstairs or in the den, and there was no reason for him to be in their parents' room. Luna decided to quickly check the basement, but when she reached the bottom of the stairs she saw nobody. Luna began to feel worried. She had no choice but to go back upstairs.

The rest of the girls were waiting for Luna to come back with Lincoln. They all turned when they heard the doorknob turn, but were confused when Luna came back alone. Lori saw the worried look on Luna's face as she walked inside.

"Luna, what's going on? Where's Lincoln," Lori asked.

"I can't find him."

The girls blinked in confusion. Lori just stared for a split second before replying. "What? What do you mean you 'can't find him'?"

"Dude, he's not in his room; and I know I saw him there this morning! I just looked downstairs but he wasn't there, and he wasn't outside either. I even checked the basement. He's gone."

The girls were dumbfounded. They couldn't remember Lincoln doing something like this before. Then Lisa realized something. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen our sole fraternal sibling since this morning either," she said. "I also recall last seeing him in his living space as well." The rest of the girls agreed as they realized the same.

"I don't believe this," said Lori. She turned back to Luna. "You said you looked for him downstairs?" "Yeah bruh, I looked everywhere. Or, at least, everywhere he could have gone." Lori narrowed her eyes at that last part. "What do you mean where he 'could have gone'?"

"Well I couldn't look everywhere," said Luna. "It's not like I had the time to do so." "Oh, right," said Lori as she understood.

"But, you said you looked outside?" Luna turned to Lynn. "I only looked out the window; still didn't see him."

"What about the garage," Lana asked. "He has no reason to be there, dude."

"Mom and dad's room," asked Lola. "Again, no reason for him to be there," said Luna.

"What about the attic," asked Leni. Everyone gave a slight groan. "Leni, the door to the attic is closed," said Lori. "There's literally no way he could be up there; and I seriously doubt he used the vents." Lucy was just about to ask about that but that got shot down.

"I really don't get it," said Luan. "And he's usually here for stuff like this."

"That's right," said Lucy. "Where could he have gone?"

The girls tried to think of something, but their thoughts were interrupted when a phone started ringing. "It's mine," said Lori as she picked it up. When she looked at the screen, a surprised look crossed her face. "It's mom." She quickly answered as everyone turned to faced her.

"Mom? Yeah, we were having a sibling meeting, but Luna just said she can't find Lincoln. What is it?" Everyone else exchanged a look, wondering what their mother called about.

"Wait, what?!" Everyone turned to Lori when she said that. She had a surprised look on her face, and she was nodding as she listened. A moment later, Lori spoke. "All right, hold on a sec."

Lori fumbled with her phone before holding it up. "OK, mom you're on speaker. Everyone's here," said Lori as she eyed everyone with a look that meant 'shut up and listen.' "Alright," said Rita's voice from the phone. "Girls, I want to let you know Lincoln called me a few minutes ago. He told me he was going to the mall."

The girls were shocked. "HE WHAT," they all shouted in unison. "WHY," asked Lori.

"Well, he told me about this argument you were all having," Rita said sternly. The girls started to feel worried, but their mother continued before any of them could say anything. "And he wanted me to tell you something." Now the girls were really nervous. "Tell us what," asked Leni.

They all heard their mother take a deep breath. Then, just like she promised, she told the girls Lincoln's message word-for-word; emphasizing how frustrated he was. "Now, I'm not entirely sure what Lincoln meant by that, but your father and I will be having a few words with ALL of you when we get home." There was a pause on the other end as some voices were heard in the background. "I'm sorry girls, I have to go," said Rita. "We'll talk later." She hung up without giving the girls a chance to reply.

But even if she did, they wouldn't have been able to anyway. The girls were practically frozen in place. They all knew exactly what Lincoln meant. Just like he predicted, his message was to the point. But what he couldn't have known was just how hurtful it would be. None of the girls could remember a time when their brother said or did anything so mean-spirited, and they couldn't believe it.

What made it worse was the Sister Fight Protocol's last use came back to them, and they realized Lincoln was right. They did tell him they didn't need his help to settle their issues. Now he not only used their words against them, he took them much further than they even dared to. The guilt they all felt was like a kick to the chest.

All eyes turned to Lori, waiting for her to say something. Lori just hung her head, clearly just as upset as everyone else. Everybody but Lori left the room; there was no need to say their meeting was adjourned. Even Leni left the room. Not because she had forgotten it was still her room, but she actually needed to be alone.

Lori looked back to her phone. However, she couldn't find it in herself to search for Lincoln's number or the last text she sent him. She just put her phone on her nightstand and lied on her bed. What happened when she came home was bad enough, but that phone call just made things worse. This was definitely not how she expected today to go. Lori put her face in her pillow. Nobody would have been able to hear her quiet sobs as she wallowed in her guilt.

Over the next few hours, everyone tried to regain their senses over what happened, that morning's argument completely forgotten. The girls tried to continue with their usual activities, but they were much less enthusiastic. It was very odd. Ever since receiving that call, the Loud House was much quieter than usual. While this came as a welcome relief for its neighbors, none of them could have known its true meaning. If the morning before the argument was the calm before the storm, this new-found quiet was the eye of the storm.

At some point, Lana came out of her room after spending the time tending to her many pets. She still felt bad about what happened, but decided it would be best to find something else to do to keep her mind occupied.

She ultimately went downstairs to find something to do. She was not in the mood to go outside despite the nice weather. Ultimately, she decided to just watch TV. She picked up the remote and climbed on the couch. She was just about to turn on the TV when she heard a voice.

"Lana?"

Lana turned to see her twin coming out of the dining room. "Hey Lols," she replied, unenthusiastically. The pageant girl joined her twin on the couch, sitting a few feet away. The two sat in silence for a few moments, figuring out what to say to the other. But there was only one thing on their minds.

"Couldn't stop thinking about it either," Lola asked, referring to their mother's phone call. Lana just shook her head, making her twin nod understandingly. Lana turned and asked the next question. "You worried about what mom and dad are going to say?" Lola thought for a few seconds. "I am. But that's not what I've been thinking about."

Lana looked over to Lola, slightly surprised. "What was it then," she asked. Lola shifted in her seat to face Lana properly before answering. "I just can't believe Linky would do something like this."

"Leave without telling anybody," Lana asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well that too; but I meant those things he had mom say to us! I can't believe he could do something so mean," Lola said, looking down in her lap.

Lana scoffed at her twin's comment. "You're the one to talk." Lola looked up, surprised. "What's that supposed to mean," she asked. "I mean, do you even know what you're saying?" "Do I know… do you even know what I'm saying?! Linky left us and said mean things about us!" "Yes, but that doesn't mean you have the right to complain about it!"

Lola gasped at what Lana said. "What do mean I have no right?! I'm upset about what Lincoln did! So why can't I?! In fact, why aren't you upset?!"

"I am! But at least I know I don't have the right to complain! Especially considering the things we did to him." "What do mean 'we'," Lola asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Oh come on Lola, we've all done some mean things to Lincoln in the past. I know I have, so I can understand why Lincoln did what he did. That's what I meant by 'you're the one to talk.' You've done some really messed up things to all of us, especially Lincoln, and you have the nerve to call him mean?! That's messed up! If anything, you're the meanest one of us all."

Lola's jaw dropped. She stood up on the cushion. "What did you say," she asked, almost in a whisper. Now Lana stood up to face her twin. "You heard me." Lola balled her hands into fists. Now she was mad. "Take that back," she growled. Lana stared back at her twin. "Make me."

Lola lunged at Lana in an attempt to tackle her, the latter using her feet and hands to keep the former off of her. The twins wrestled on the couch, trading insults as they moved around the couch.

As the twins fought, they occasionally landed on the remote control. They unwittingly turn on the TV and change the channels and volume. At some point, Lana found herself trying to keep Lola pinned on her back. The latter had fallen on top of the remote and the combined weight of the twins caused the channel to change again.

As soon as the channel changed, the TV unexpectedly got louder. The sudden rise in volume startled the twins, making them yelp. Realizing how loud it was, they quickly turned down the volume before returning to their fight. But as quickly as the fight resumed, it stopped again.

Lana and Lola stared in each other's eyes. They may be completely different people, but even they shared the so-called "twin-telepathy" everyone talks about; and at that moment, they were thinking the same thing. Lana and Lola slowly turned back to the TV and when they got a good look at the screen, what they saw left them in shock.

Meanwhile, the other girls were in their rooms trying to find something to take their minds off of the call from their mother. Suddenly, the house was once again filled with the sound of the twins screaming. But this time they spoke in unison, and they sounded desperate. That was never a good sign.

"GUYS! GUYS! COME HERE, QUICK!" Hearing the urgency in their voices, everyone rushed out of their rooms and into the den asking the twins questions.

"What is it?" "What's wrong?" "What's the matter?" "What's going on?" "What's happening?"

"LOOK!" Lana and Lola yelled as they both turned and pointed to the TV. Their sisters took one look at the screen and gasped out loud.

The TV was tuned to the local news station running a breaking news story. The images on the screen showed numerous emergency vehicles outside the mall. Police officers were guiding people away from the building while paramedics were lifting what looked like loaded stretchers into ambulances. All the while, the voice of the reporter, Katherine Mulligan, was describing what was happening. Normally Miss Mulligan always kept the stereotypical, stoic demeanor of a news anchor, even when she wasn't working. But this time her voice was shaky, all too obvious she was struggling to maintain her composure.

While all this was going on, the news caption at the bottom of the screen read:

ROYAL WOODS MALL SHOOTING – Police Report At Least 10 Dead, Including Gunman

The girls could only look on in shock.

"Oh. My. God," said Luna, holding her hands over her mouth. "No way," said Lynn as she shook her head. "I don't believe it," said Lisa as she wiped her glasses. Everyone else was too shocked to say anything; or, almost everyone.

"Oh no." Everyone looked over to see Leni frantically scrolling through her phone. Lori turned to her. "What is it?" "I need to check on my friends," Leni replied, worried. Lori gasped when she realized. "That's right; you were supposed to be working today! I am literally so glad you had this day off," she said.

"I know, right," Leni said as she kept searching for the group text she had with her work friends. "Still, I need to make sure they're OK! I mean, this is, like, really scary. I'm just glad none of us were…" Leni stopped mid-sentence as she and the others suddenly realized, to their horror…

"…LINCOLN!"

They all started talking at once. Everybody was really scared, and their concerned voices mixing with each other just made things worse. Trying to make themselves heard, some of the girls started speaking louder, almost to the point of yelling with their fear rising with each passing second. But just before the full-on feeling of panic overwhelmed the girls, a much louder noise cut through the air.

Everyone immediately fell silent. It was the unmistakable sound of someone knocking on the front door. The girls exchanged looks. People who came to the Loud House would usually ring the broken doorbell, resulting in the visitor screaming from the resulting electric shock. It was VERY rare someone would intentionally knock, but when they did it usually meant something serious.

As the knocking came again, everyone turned to Lori. Since she was the oldest one in the house at this time, she had to see who was at the door no matter the circumstances. Lori looked between her sisters before walking to the door as the knocking came again. After taking a few seconds to compose herself, Lori opened the door. What she saw made her blood run cold.

Standing on the porch were two Michigan State Troopers, one male and one female. Seeing movement behind the troopers, Lori saw a Royal Woods Police officer talking into a radio. He was walking towards the street where Lori saw a Royal Woods Police cruiser. Behind it were two Michigan State Police SUVs. Looking back at the troopers, she realized they were wearing bulletproof vests. Lori swallowed the lump in her throat as she looked to their faces. "Can I help you officers," she asked nervously.

The troopers could hear the sound of the news report on the TV from outside the door, telling them Lori and everyone else inside already knew about what happened at the mall.

The female trooper spoke first. "Yes. Is this the Loud Residence?" "Yes," said Lori. "What's your name?" "Lori." The trooper paused for a few seconds before she asked her next question. "Lori, do you have a brother named Lincoln?"

The rest of the girls stood behind Lori near the stairs the whole time, listening. They heard everything and were beyond terrified at this point. Lori, however, was scared most of all. She had to take a deep breath before answering, but she couldn't help but feel tears come to her eyes. "Y-Yes," she said, her voice starting to crack.

The troopers gave each other a knowing look; they were not looking forward to what they had to do next. As the female trooper walked away to use her radio, her partner turned to break the news.

"Lori," he said, "I'm so sorry, but I'm afraid we have bad news."