(Lincoln is fourteen, so add 3 to everyone's age.)

An AU of sorts where both Ronnie and Lincoln's families are a smudge bit more shitty, I don't need to explain myself! It's all for plot reasons


Late night


Ronnie panted as she kicked the man off of her. She scrambled to her feet and ran up the stairs to her room and slammed the door behind her, she locked it quickly.

Her father had come home drunk after another bad day at work. He had started by berating and humiliate her mother to the point that she had to leave to keep herself sane.

When she was gone, his attention turned to Ronnie. Quickly, things started to heat up. Ronnie retorted most of everything he said before he grabbed her and smacked her to the ground. He planned on beating her but she escaped to her room in time.

She grabbed her duffle and started to stuff it full of her clothes. "I- I need to go... G- go somewhere... Anywhere." She said as she ran and grabbed all the self-care products from her dresser and quickly went to the door again.

Before Ronnie even grabbed the knob, loud wood cracking could be heard as her door was kicked in.

"D- Dad! The door!" She shouted, scared beyond belief and not sure what to say.

"Wh... What do you care about... You won't live long enough to see it get fixed.." He slurred as he stepped towards her.

Ronnie stood in place, fear gripping her at that moment. She felt her father's big hands clasp her throat in moments. He pushed her to the wall and slammed her into it and started to choke the life out of her, lifting her off the ground.

"Let.. *gasp* go..." She gasped for air as she kicked her feet widely. He tightened his grip to get this over with already.

Ronnie gasped for air and tried her hardest to remove the hands. She clenched her teeth and scowled. "I.. Said let... Go!" She shouted before reeling her head back and head butting him hard.

Mr. Santiago groaned, letting her go and grabbing his now bleeding forehead. "Sonofabitch!" He shouted.

Ronnie stumbled and held her head, that attack racked her brain and made her stumble a tad bit. She quickly got her bearings. She pushed him onto the floor before starting to run, grabbing her skateboard and duffle quickly as she ran out the door.

In a matter of moments, she was down the stairs and out the door, she threw her skateboard down and jumped on. She heard her father yelling at her to come back.

But she wasn't. Never again.

Her mother had left her alone with him too many times...

She wasn't ever going to be alone again.


-W-


On the other side of town, Lincoln was thrown out of his own house, into the mud of his backyard. The side of his head hit a small stone.

He coughed and held his wound and then looked at his hands. There was blood on them. He coughed again and groaned as he turned on his back and looked at the people who threw him out. He scowled and grit his teeth as he got to his feet.

"Are... You kidding me..?" Lincoln said with a pant before falling to his knees in pain. "I go to your events, support you through everything you've done to me my whole life and this is how you treat me?" Lincoln got to his feet before eyeing Lynn among the girls. Her arms were crossed and she had a scowl.

"You started it," Lynn said with a scoff.

The argument had started when Lincoln was working on a comic when he got a letter. Upon reading it, it told him that his short comic was going to be published. It was of Ace Savvy dying and finding his way back to life by going through his mistakes in life as a hero and a person.

They were going to unveil it at comic con in Royal Woods.

He told his sisters about it, asking them to come to it. They all said no, except Lily. What a sweetheart, and it went as well as you thought it did.

"No way I'm going to that nerdfest," Lola said.

"Comics are boring to me, I got more important things to do," Lisa said, rather busy.

"Sorry Linky, but I have a fashion show. I'll make it up to you." Leni said. That he understood.

The rest of his were either unwilling, busy, or just straight said no. The last straw broke when even Luna said no. Then he let his anger and frustration take over, accusing them of not caring about his own things and they retaliated and soon enough Lynn threw a punch after he called her stupid and impulsive. Which proved his point, honestly. Lincoln fought back before Lola joined in, Luna did too when she was pulled into the fight. It was pretty much a losing fight from the beginning.

Thunder could be heard in the sky as Lincoln's gaze hardened.

"You guys can't go and support me through this one thing?! You always put yourself above me all the time! Now, this?!" He shouted as he panted before walking towards them as it started to rain.

"I'm done with all of you. I'm obviously not wanted here." He said as he walked past them and started to head towards the stairs.

"Lincoln, wait," Lynn said, placing her arm on his shoulder.

Lincoln grabbed her wrist and quickly turned around, his hand clenched into a fist. Lynn's eyes widened and she couldn't react in time.

His fist connected with her eye and she fell back. She groaned in pain. "Sonofabitch!" She shouted and hissed in pain. Lincoln stomped fast upstairs. Grabbing his bag, dumping his things before stuffing it with essentials, and grabbing the wallet of cash he's been saving.

He turned and left, eying his sisters one last time before grabbing his jacket off the rack and leaving, slamming the door behind him.

Before he left the premises, he went into the garage and took Lynn's BMX bike, and rode off on it.


-W-


Ronnie was still riding down the rainy sidewalk. She was in deep thought, not turning around and not knowing what to do after that. Her head was shaking from that headbutt too.

While in thought, a rock caught her wheel and she went flying but her landing wasn't as hard as she expected.

"Ughh.." Lincoln groaned. "I landed on my leg..." He said.

Ronnie looked at him. "Lincoln?! What the heck are you doing out here? It's raining.." She said as she rolled off of him and helped him up. Lincoln dusted himself off but the rain made it hard.

"I could ask the same.." He said as he noticed her attire. "You're in shorts... And just your hoodie."

"Well... Ugh, my head... I was in quite the rush to leave my house.." They were silent for a moment before Lincoln walked forward. "Let's get out of the rain. There's a diner around the corner. Then we can talk about that black eye."

"You can see that?" She asked silently as they picked up their bags and went off on their way.


-W-


They both sat at a booth near the window, silently staring at each other and inspecting each other's injuries. The rain was the only noise between the two of them.

Lincoln had a small cut that started on his hairline and ended at his temple in a straight line. Blood had stopped leaking from it at this point. It would definitely leave a scar. His cheek was bruised too, both injuries from his sister Lynn and others.

Ronnie had a bruised neck from being strangled and a slow forming bruise under her eye from being smacked to the floor.

"So... I'll tell you how I got this if you do too," Lincoln said as a waitress quickly came up to them.

"You two look like you've been through hell... Have these and dry yourselves off. Will y'all be having anything? Or are you trying to get out of the rain?" She asked, handing them towels before pulling out her small notepad.

"No, we don't have-"

"Wait, yeah we will, order what you want Ron," Lincoln interjected.

"You have cash?" Ronnie asked. He nodded. "Then, just give me pancakes and eggs with OJ." She said, the waitress quickly scribbled the order. She faced Lincoln.

"I'll have the pancakes and sausage with OJ." He said. The waitress quickly scribbled that before nodding. "My name's Tracey if you need anything else," Tracey said, introducing herself.

"Thank you. We appreciate it." Lincoln said as she walked off. Lincoln then turned back to Ronnie.

"I guess I'll start and explain why I'm out here," Lincoln said as he wiped the water off his face and dried his hair. He then explained to Ronnie why he was bruised and running in the rain with reckless abandon.

Once finished, Ronnie apologized to him before she started to explain what had happened between her and her father. Lincoln, was unbeatably upset and angry.

"What... A complete and utter asshole." Lincoln said with a sigh, rubbing his eyes.

Seconds later, Tracey cane back. Placing the orders down on the table for the teens. "Here you go, kids. Sorry to say that we close in about two hours. Just a warning." She said with a smile as she left them to eat and talk.

They then began to eat, the pancakes were delicious. They were fluffy and soft and eggs were perfectly scrambled and such. Truly something worth the ages. Halfway through the meal, Lincoln looked up from his plate.

He choked on his drink and coughed lightly.

"What's wrong Linc?" Ronnie asked as he pointed out his sister, talking to the waitress.


-w-


Lori looked worried and mad as all hell, for obvious reasons. Can you envision her rage when Luna called her to tell her of Lincoln's running away and the fight that broke out between a few of the sisters?

She apologized to Bobby countlessly as she had to suddenly stop their... "Activities" to help search for him.

"Excuse me?" Lori asked the front counter. Tracey looked up from her phone, quickly stowing it away before going over to her.

"Sorry for not noticing you earlier, what can I do for you?" She asked.

"We're looking for a boy, he's been in a fight currently, has white hair? We've been looking everywhere." Lori asked her.

Tracey nodded. "Yes, actually, in that booth right over..." She pointed at the booth where the two were. It was empty. Lori, Leni, and Tracey went over to inspect the scene. There was a pair of 20s on the table and the leftovers of the breakfast special.

Lori sighed and rubbed her eyes. "He saw us and ran off." She said with a sigh as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She covered her face and wiped away tears.

"Ugh, no. No crying till he's back home and safe.." She said as Leni wrapped an arm around her sister's neck and pulled her close. "Don't worry sis, he couldn't have gotten that far, let's keep looking." She consoled her with a smile as they turned to leave.

"Wait!" Tracey said, scrambling towards them. "The person you're looking for, he was with someone. She looked to be worse for wear as much as him... She was wearing a purple hoodie and had a skateboard."

Lori's eyes widened. "Ronnie was with him?" She muttered as they both went off, leaving Tracey and the Diner.


-W-


Ronnie and Lincoln were riding down the rainy street. They were both on their respective modes of transportation. Soon enough, they came to a slow stop.

"Man, I really wanted to finish those pancakes..." Ronnie complained.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't want to go home, and if she found you too, she'd send you home too," Lincoln said as they continued to ride, being extremely careful not to bump anything.

"Yeah, you're right... Let's keep going." Ronnie said as they rode away through the night.

.

.

.

.

On the other side of the street, a person was wearing a suit and holding an umbrella. He watched the pair of teens ride away.

He pulled out a Flip-Phone and dialed a number quickly.

It took seconds for someone to answer.

"Sir...? Yes, I know it's past ten... I'm calling because I think I found some new test subjects for the third round of Project Python..." He said as he listened to a few words from his boss before nodding and hanging up. He faded into the shadows, staying hidden and following the pair of teenagers.