Chapter 5: The Results of Time
BEEP! BEEP!
Lucy moved to shut her phone off and sat up groggily looking around. She saw her sibling, Ronnie-Anne, Clyde, and Bobby all still sleeping soundly. After looking around a few more seconds Lucy felt something was wrong. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked at her sibling again, and realized what was wrong. Lucy sat up panicking, and causing her sisters to wake up.
"Lucy what's wrong? Go back to sleep." Lynn groggily mumbled facing her little sister. Lucy looked to her sister's, Clyde, Ronnie-Anne, and Bobby, and with a worried voice asked.
"Guys where's Lincoln?!" Lucy's question made everyone instantly snap awake, alert and looking all over . The Louds Started to freak out.
"Where did he go!?"Leni shouted, waking her parents who came running out of their room.
"Kids, what's wrong?" Lynn Sr. asked yawning.
"Mom, Dad Lincolns gone!" Lynn Jr.'s voice began trembling with fear. Lynn Sr. and Rita both began panicking just like their daughters.
"WHAT?!" Rita and Lynn Sr. gasped. They joined the search, and searched up stairs in every room. They didn't find him any where in the house.
"Where's Lincoln, he promised he'd never leave!?" Lily began crying when they couldn't find him. All the Loud siblings went to comfort their baby sister, all trying not to cry themselves. Just then the door swung open, and there was Lincoln in running sweatpants and sweatshirt, having just returned from a jog. As Lincoln walked in he noticed his sisters were about to cry, except Lily who was crying. Lincoln's face grew serious as he went over to his sisters
"What's wro-." Before Lincoln finished his sentence or even took a step, Lincoln was tackled and knocked down by all 10 sisters and Ronnie-Anne. They started to yell at him all at once causing Lincoln to become confused.
"Don't you ever scare us like that again Twerp!"
"Lincy you made Lily cry, say you're sorry!"
"Bro, that was totally bogus leaving without a word!"
"Lincoln this isn't funny, this is a terrible prank!"
"You ever do that again I'll beat you down Linc!"
"Geeze Lame-o, don't you think of anyone but yourself?"
"Lincoln I love tragedy, but this was not okay!"
"Big Bro do this again and I'll lock you in your room?!"
"Lincoln Loud you are in so much trouble!"
"Dear Older Male sibling you have caused all of us great emotional turmoil! You made us sad!"
"You Promised me you wouldn't leave us!"
Lincoln let them calm down before getting back up and looking at everyone apologetically.
"Sorry guys I'm just use to being up at 6 in the morning everyday to do morning exercise. I just got back from jogging." Lincoln explained just as his parents walked back into the room.
"Lincoln there you are!" Now Rita ran to hug her son, then immediately backed away wrinkling her nose.
"Wow Son you smell, what have you been doing?"
"Well I just got back from my morning jog Mom." Lincoln smiled at his mother's face.
"Oh? The last time I ever saw you jogging was back when you kids got your father and I to start exercising. I'm glad to see my little boy is more active as an adult.' Rita giggled joking with her son.
"Well how far did you end up running Lincoln?" Lynn Jr. asked being the sports maniac of the family she was very curious about just how athletic her little brother became..
"Well I left here at 6:30 am and I ran all the way to Dad's restaurant and back without stopping, and it is now 8:00 am." Lincoln answered looking at his watch.
"Whoa Linc, Dad's restaurant is across town. That's like a six hour walk!" Lana exclaimed
"Geeze Lincy We remember when you never liked running if you didn't have to." Leni Smiled teasing Lincoln.
"Hehehe. Yeah It started back at the facility, but it was Nagi who pushed us to still keep in shape, at least while we still plan to take jobs." Lincoln spoke casually.
"What do you mean by 'jobs' Son?" Lynn Sr. asked his son for an explanation.
"Oh well see we get contracts from around the world and we get paid well for a lot of them." Lincoln spoke. His family and friends got the feeling that he wasn't completely forth coming with his job description.
"What do you do on these 'jobs' Lincy?" Lily asked genuinely curious and excited to know. Lincoln couldn't help but mile at her expression.
"Well Lily we would do lot of different things, some boring, some alone, but most of them were team jobs where all five of us were needed. An example would be being bodyguards for celebrities, and there was even a time we guarded a princess." Lincoln said watching Lily's expression get even more excited an even Lola's ears perked at the mention of a princess.
"Really!? You met a princess? What was it like?" Lola asked even more excitedly then anyone every saw her, Lincoln giggled at this.
"Believe it or not Lola most royalty are down to earth people. They just want to live a nice and normal life." Lola thought on her big brother's words for a moment.
"I see, still that's so cool that you met a princess." Lola spoke a bit excitedly.
"What other jobs have you done Lincoln?" Lori asked
"Nothing I hope put you in peril Dear Brother." Lisa added having thought a scary thought. Now everyone looked at Lincoln with fear in their eyes. Lincoln sighed, deciding not hide everything from them.
"Yes there were many times where mine and my crews lives were threaten. Being body guards and escorting people, you tend to meet the occasional hit men. Then there's the rescue missions those are even more difficult, if our information isn't 100% accurate." Lincoln explained seeing their expressions become even more worried, Lincoln sighed again. "But on those instances Nagi never lets us go alone, and if he feels we can't handle it he gives the job to someone else." Lincoln added hoping that alleviate some of their fear. It did.
!BEEP! !BEEP!
Lincoln's watch went off.
"Whoops! It's 8:15 am. Sorry guys but I got to go take a shower ad head of the Nagi's house for sparring." Lincoln grabbed started walking toward to upstairs shower.
"Wait 'sparring'?" Lana asked catching her big brother's words.
"Yes sparring, it's another thing that has become a habit since I met Nagi." Lincoln answered still making his way up the stairs. "If you want you can come and see what it's like." Lincoln added just before turning the corner.
"I think we can spar a moment, hahahaha, get it?" Luan joked and actually helped lighten the mood by making every smile or smirk and roll their eyes.
"Good one Luan." Lincoln called from the bathroom. As soon as they all heard the bathroom door close, Lori looked to everyone and gauged their expressions and spoke her thoughts.
"Who would have thought he'd grow up to be a great guy?" Her tone held a bit of pride toward her brother. Her parents and sibling agreed sharing that pride.
"He gives off this mature vibe, and when he talks to you it's with respect too." Lucy spoke giving her rare smiles.
"His eye's still have that gentleness that they've always had, but there's something else there too." Ronnie-Anne spoke joining in the conversation. Her remark got her a knowing look from her brother, and she blushed realizing that she broke her usual stoic, tough girl act.
"I'm still amazed that he got up so early and went for a run, and all the way to Dad's restaurant!" Lola exclaimed.
"I know right , remember when mom tried to get him to be more active and signed him up for football?" Leni spoke up.
"Yeah he got me to trade places with him, and we tricked everybody for weeks." Lynn smiled reminiscing how that event would lead her to be able to play football next year, all thanks to her little brother.
"Yeah but you have to admit even with his skill, the Detroit Lions would've made the Super Bawl. Get it? Hahaha!" Luan remarked, everyone laughed at that one.
"I'm curious about what his sparring sessions are like." Lana said excitement apparent in her tone.
"Well then let's take Linc up on his offer, and go see." Luna voiced her suggestion.
"I second that.' Lisa agreed with her older sibling.
"Well that's great then let get going." Everyone jumped scarred by Lincoln suddenly pulling a Lucy.
"Geeze buddy you just pulled a Lucy and scarred us." Clyde exclaimed trying to calm his heart rate back to normal.
"Son I thought you were going to shower?" Lynn Sr. asked still a little startled by Lincoln.
"I did Dad, I took a 'military shower' get in scrub your important spots then hop out." Lincoln explained.
"Why did you do that Big Brother?" Lily asked.
"Well see I don't want to get thoroughly cleaned because that would be a waste right before a sparring session, we usually get really, REALLY, sweaty. So I take a real thorough shower or bath after." Lincoln smiled as his baby sister processed his explanation.
"Makes sense to me." Lynn Jr. spoke up.
"Anyway if you want to come watch then come on, I'm heading over to Nagi's now." With that Lincoln walked toward the door, everyone else was right behind him. They all crossed the street to the house that Nagi bought. It had three levels, a basement, ground floor and the second floor. The house had 6 bedrooms, like the Loud House, two bathrooms, a decent living room , a dinning room, and a kitchen.
The group followed Lincoln to the side of the house to the fence gate. Lincoln walked through it and gestured for everyone to follow, and they all went to the back yard to find Reggie and Alexander were fighting. That was until Reggie low swiped Alexander's legs out from under him, and mounted him ready to strike.
"And that's match. Winner Reggie." Alexandria called from the side lines. Reggie helped Alexander to his feet.
"Good match Alexander, you're getting better with ever match." Reggie encouraged Alexander.
"Yeah, but you can say that about all of us Reggie." Alexander smiled lightly slugging Reggie's shoulder.
"Oi don mean et aint true ya wanker." Reggie spoke in a natural British accent, and return Alexander's slug. Luna and Lynn Sr. hear the accent and went into their Brit modes, and approached Reggie.
"Wel ello there Mum hows you this fine morn?" Lynn Sr. asked extending his hand to Reggie.
"Ya's got some ripe moves their Love." Luna not far behind her father complemented Reggie' moves.
Reggie's smile disappeared the moment the Louds used their accents, and the smile was replaced with a face full of rage. Seeing this Lincoln quickly interjected himself between his father and Luna and Reggie.
"Easy Reggie they don't know any better, calm down." Lincoln used a gentle soothing tone and slowly approached Reggie. Reggie's expression of rage slowly went away, and Reggie felt a bit confused they realized the feeling of rage, and became sadden.
"I'm sorry Lincoln I thought I was over all that. I-I'll go get Nagi and Sylphiea." Reggie went into the house immediately. Lincoln sighed and turned to his father and sister.
"I'm sorry guys, Reggie has issues having people speaking in British accents." Lincoln explained
"Why is that Son?" Lynn Sr. asked confused by the whole situation.
"Well Reggie was an orphan from London when the people at the facility took Reggie in." Alexander said laying lazily and a bench.
"Even before that god awful place Reggie's lived a hard life, and that's all we're at liberty to say." Alexandria spoke up moving to her brother lover with a bowl of fruit.
At that moment Reggie returned looking a bit better but had obviously cried a little. Reggie went over to Lynn Sr. and Luna and bowed at a 45 degree angle.
"I'm so sorry for my inexcusable behavior, Please forgive me." Reggie's tone was heartfelt.
"N-no we should be the ones to apologize Miss Reggie." Lynn Sr. returned the bow not knowing how to handle Reggie's apology. Luna put her hand on Reggie's shoulder gently.
"No harm done dude, let's just start over. K?" Luna said smiling using her normal rocker voice. Reggie looked up at Luna and returned the smile.
"That sounds good, but let me at least explain why I was upset. See back home I was always teased by tourists that used horrible accents to mock me and belittle me. That's why when people who aren't actually from the U.K speak in an accent I get angry, because I remember those times." Reggie looked in Luna's eyes showing hurt and anger at those past memories.
"I'm sorry that you went through all that Reggie." Luna felt down now.
"Don't be. Though my life then was horrible, it eventually would lead me to my new family. " Reggie smiled a truly beautiful smile. The smile made Clyde's chest start beating in a way he though only beat for Lori all those years ago.
"Hmmmm wonder why my chest is beating so fast. This needs to bee investigated on at a later time?" Clyde thought to himself.
Lincoln was about to say something to his friends and family when suddenly out of nowhere he was tackled and began rolling on the ground. After a few seconds Lincoln found himself on the ground with Nagi putting a foot on his chest striking a super hero pose, while in what appeared to be his boxers.
"I am the victor." Nagi casually spoke. Lincolns family were at a lost or words at the sudden assault to their loved one, but Ronnie-Anne did still have her voice.
"What the hell is wrong with you tackling a person out of the blue!?" Ronnie-Anne shouted at Nagi. Nagi looked at Ronnie-Anne with an innocent look like that of a child not understanding what he did was wrong.
"Hello Loud Family, Santiago siblings,and Clyde, welcome to my base of operations." Nagi greeted everyone all while still keeping his foot on Lincoln. "But what are you all doing over here at this hour?"
"I invited them to come watch me spar, they were curious about it." Lincoln answered moving Nagi's foot off him and getting to his feet. "I hope you don't mind."
Just then Alexander sat up, Alexandria dropped her bowl, and Reggie had a worried looked, all of which did not go unnoticed by everyone. Reggie was about to speak when Sylphiea spoke first.
"Lincoln you do realize that your scheduled to spar with Nagi right?" Sylphiea walked out of the house wearing a beautiful yellow summer dress, and her hair was braided into a beautiful ponytail. "Nagi please go put some shorts on at the very least." Sylphiea added as she went to sit by Alexandria and threw a pair of short to Nagi.
"Sorry Sylphi." Nagi caught the shorts and put them on. When Nagi has his shorts on he looked to Lincoln who suddenly had a worried expression and had became pale.
"Whoa Lincoln you okay you look like you've seen a ghost?" Nagi asked concerned about his friend's health.
"Umm Nagi is it okay to reschedule our match for a later time?" Lincoln weakly pleaded. Nagi was confused by this request.
"But Lincoln you love it when we get to spar. You never hesitate, what's changed?" Nagi asked looking at Lincoln.
"His family and friends are here to watch him spar, and he forgot that he was sparing with you today Nagi Dear." Sylphiea spoke putting two and two together. Nagi's eyes narrowed at Lincoln and an intense aura stated to emanate from him. Lincoln hated when Nagi got this way, it was always scary.
"Get ready to spar NOW Lincoln." Nagi's tone had so much aggression, and annoyance in it was all directed at Lincoln. Nagi then went to one side of the mats that were being used.
"Captain please." Lincoln begged even more weakly knowing it was pointless to beg when Nagi got like this.
"Now!" Was all Nagi would say to Lincoln. Lincoln stood there clutching his chest and started shaking noticeably.
"Hey! If my brother doesn't want to fight you, then back off!" Lori spoke and stepped forward. Nagi's gaze fell upon the group and they instantly felt frozen with fear, almost like they were staring at a dangerous animal.
"If he truly didn't want to spar with me then I'd have no problem with his request." Nagi returned his gaze to Lincoln. "But the problem is that Lincoln doesn't want you all to see is dirty little secret under his clothes." Nagi spoke calmly but his tone was still aggressive. Ronnie-Anne being the first to recover from Nagi's gaze, ran up to Lincoln looking him in the face.
"Lincoln what his he talking about?" Her tone is firm but full of concern. Lincoln looked away from her.
"It's nothing Ronnie-Anne. I'm fine." Lincoln tried to brush the whole situation off. Ronnie-Anne wasn't having any of that. She reach for Lincolns shirt to see for herself, but Lincoln caught her hands.
"Don't Ronnie-Anne!" Lincoln's tone was firm, but had fear in it. Ronnie-Anne wasn't going to listen, she ripped her hands from Lincolns and tried reaching for his shirt again, Lincoln stopped her again. As this was going on Lincoln failed to notice that Lucy had snuck up behind him and gently lifted his shirt. As soon as she saw what was under the shirt Lucy walked back, her whole body became paler then Lincoln's was, her eyes were wide and unknowingly to Lucy, tears fell down from them and she fell to her knees. Lynn rushed to her sister/roommate having seen her drop to her knees.
"Lucy what's wrong!?" Lynn asked stroking her little sister's hair trying to calm her down, to no avail. Though Lucy did start to mumble something to Lynn.
"What was that Lucy?" Lynn soothingly asked her sister to repeat.
"It's all our fault Lynn! We did this to him!" Lucy sobbed out to her big sister. Lynn was confused by what he was saying to her.
"Lucy I don't now what your trying to say. What's our fault, what did we do?"Lynn asked beginning to worry over her sister.
"LINCOLN LOUD!" Nagi shouted making everyone, except Lucy and Lynn, look at him. "Look behind you Little Brother." Nagi spoke firmly but this time with no hostility. Lincoln looked over his shoulders to see Lynn holding a crying Lucy. Lincoln instantly went in to big brother mode and went over to kneel beside his sisters.
"Lucy what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Lincoln grabbed Lucy's hand and gently stroked it. Lucy feeling her brother's presence put her arms around his waist and sobbed into his chest mumbling how sorry she was..
"Luce why are you apologizing, you haven't done anything wrong?" Lincoln asked getting more confused and worried about his sister.
"She snuck up behind you and lifted your shirt up while you were distracted." Nagi answered having seen the whole thing happen. "Gotta say she's good at hiding her presence." Nagi added as a complement to Lucy. Lincoln froze at Nagi's words. Nagi continued talking.
"You know Lincoln when I first asked you about 'THAT' you told me you weren't ashamed at all that you were in fact proud. The reason your scared to show your family and friends is because your afraid they will reject you." Nagi spoke, his facial expression softening. "But are you going to keep letting your little sister blame herself and your family for something that isn't their fault?" Nagi asked gently to his little brother.
Nagi's question snapped Lincoln out of his thousand yard stare. Lincoln took Lucy's face in his hands and looked her in her bang covered eyes and kissed her forehead. Lucy just blushed and momentarily stopped crying. Lincoln then stood up lifting Lucy with him, and walked to where everyone could see him.
"Okay I'm going to show you all what I'm hiding, but first I want your word that you DO NOT blame yourselves or anyone else here. Deal?" Lincoln used his serious tone while he addressed everyone. They all nodded their agreement. "Okay well you remember how I told you last night that we were often punished at the facility? Well you were punished for more then just falling behind, you were punished for helping anyone who fell behind, if you stood up to any of the staff, or if you tried to escape or knew of an escape plan." Lincoln then went to lift his shirt.
"And though I say punishment I should say they out right tortured you." Lincoln in a few swift motions took his shirt, and pants off standing in a pair of sport shorts.
Everyone looked at Lincoln's revealed body and they were filled with horror at what they saw. Lola, Luan, Ronnie-Anne, and Luna wanted to vomit and Lynn Jr actually did in the near by bush. Rita broke down and cried harder then any of the times her children ever did as babies. Lynn Sr. put his arms around his wife too shocked to do anything else. Clyde passed out and Bobby caught him still looking at Lincoln tears falling from his eyes. Lana, Lisa, and Lily stared crying silently not really knowing how to deal with what they were looking at. Leni looked away as Lori went to hold her and they both cried silent tears as they remembered Nagi's words from the other night. Lincoln's flesh was covered in old scars and burns all over his body, front and back some were faded and others were deep, but on the center of his back was a tattoo that looks like it was added after the scars healed. The tat was a black rabbit with a white spot and a white rabbit with a black spot and they came together to make the ying-yang symbol.
"Listen guys I am proud of each of these scars because I protected my friends there, I stood up for what I believed in, and most importantly they remind me of Nagi's words that helped me accept these scars as a part of who I am. I decide how to interpret these scars, I alone give them power." Lincoln smiled and walked over to his each of his family and helped them stand and hugged them with all the love he could give .
"I wasn't ashamed earlier or scared of being rejected, I was afraid you'd blame yourselves or each other. The thing is I could have gotten through that Hell by ignoring all the injustices I saw there, but that's just not who I am."Lincoln explained smiling at his family and friends. "Now I promised you that you could see me spar." Lincoln turned to Nagi and walked to the mats.
"Geeze about time you got ready." Nagi smiled trying to lighten the mood.
"Sorry for the wait Nagi, and thanks for snapping me out of my little episode there. Lincoln smiled tying to joke about what just happened already.
Now the Louds, Ronnie-Anne, and Bobby, who was carrying Clyde, moved over by Sylphiea and watched the match about to begin. They were all still pretty shaken up by Lincoln's scars and burns, they just couldn't believe what they were seeing. They thought the same thing in their minds, how could anyone be so cruel? Alexander got up from his seat and went over to the mats.
"Okay you two ready?" He looked to Nagi then to Lincoln, they both nodded they were more then ready. "Okay then BEGIN!" Alexander cut the air with his arm and stepped back. For a moment they just stared each other down.
"Are they going to do anything?" Lynn Jr asked, and then it bean in an instant.
Lincoln charged at Nagi and did a spin kick aiming for his head. Nagi blocked it and stepped into the opening Lincoln created with his spin kick and went o punch him in the chest. Lincoln in that split-second and pulled off a back flip that landed with him crouching and he quickly did a low leg sweep at Nagi. Nagi jumped back to avoid the leg sweep. Lincoln used that opening to stand and charge Nagi again but this time he was going to use an uppercut as Nagi regained his balance. Nagi saw Lincoln's intention and blocked his upper cut while still in mid air, Nagi used that moment to flip over Lincoln Lincoln spun on his the heel on his left foot and side kicked at Nagi's lower side. Nagi caught Lincoln's foot in his arm, and Lincoln jumped with his other foot and went to kick Nagi in th back. Nagi loosened his hold on Lincoln's leg and bent forward into a toe touching pose. Lincoln landed on his back and did a kick up to get back to his feet, and Nagi summer salted forward and turned to face Lincoln. As they continued to fight The Loud family sat amazed at Lincoln's movements, they had even temporarily forgot about their despair over Lincoln's scars, until Sylphiea spoke up
"So what are your feeling about Lincoln's scars?" Sylphiea asked.
"LADY SYLPHIEA!" Reggie exclaimed at her insensitivity.
"What is it Reggie?" Sylphiea asked with an innocent look.
"Please have a bit of tact about Lincoln's scars!" Reggie scolded knowing that it was pointless.
"Sorry but I'm to curious for formalities." Sylphiea responded looking back to the Louds.
"Well to be quite honest we can't even begin to grasp the reality of Lincoln's traumatic experience." Lisa spoke for herself and her family members.
"Well then let me ask another question. Do any of you still think it's your fault?" Sylphiea watched the group very closely as no one said a thing. "Well let me be the first to say you were all in Lincoln's heart giving him the strength to keep moving forward for these last 10 years. You all need not ever pity him, because he has saved many lives and will go on to save many more. Mr. and Mrs. Loud you raised a HERO, be proud of him and focus only on that." Sylphiea's words resonated deeply with the Louds. Silence followed these words of wisdom for five minutes, when Lana spoke up.
"Where did Lincoln learn to fight like that?" Lana was trying to change the mood with her question.
"Well we were taught the basics of fighting, but this level of skill is from him training with Sylphiea." Alexandria spoke up while watching Reggie using smelling salts to wake Clyde up.
"Wait YOU taught Lincoln those moves!?" Lynn Jr, asked in disbelief.
"Yes that's why he calls me 'Sensei.' Lincoln is a quick learner, but he is always sloppy with his timing." Sylphiea's tone and expression was that of a person with O.C.D who was resisting the urge to fix it right away.
"He looks like he's doing fine to me Dudette." Luna commented watching the match amazed by how awesome Lincoln had become over these last 10 years.
"Maybe to the untrained eye, but as the one who taught him trust me dear he's nowhere near good." Sylphiea sighed and shrugged. "But I guess to be fair I am teaching him a unique martial arts that I created by combining jiu-jitsu, crobmaga, and muy thai kick boxing. I made this martial arts to fight on par with Nagi." Sylphiea explained.
"Well what kind of martial arts does Nagi use then? Maybe Lincoln can strategize around it in place of his short comings with your martial arts." Lynn Jr asked thinking strategic plans out of habit from all the sports she played, and her time training for the M.M.A. Sylphiea, Reggie, Alexandria, even Alexander, Lincoln, and Nagi stopped the match, and they all laughed at Lynn's suggestion.
"What's so funny?" Lynn asked getting a bit annoyed
"Sorry Lynn, it's not a bad idea if Nagi was a normal opponent, but Nagi isn't." Lincoln explained still smiling at Lynn.
"Ya see Lynn I don't know any real martial arts, I fight on instinct." Nagi explained. Lynn was confused by his words.
"Okay see I was raised by my father to be more in tune with my animal instincts, all of what I do is me just doing it. It's like when a baby is born, they weren't taught how to breath they just know how to breath. Make sense?" Nagi asked looking to everyone.
"So you're saying that it's all reflexive movements?" Lisa asked thinking she had an idea of what he was trying to say.
"Yes exactly, my father said it's instinct, thoughts, or emotions that you can't explain but you know you need to just follow it." Nagi said trying to sound wise.
"Fascinating I would love to study how that works, if you'd allow it of course." Lisa stated hoping he would accept her offer.
"Sure I don't mind at all." Nagi smiled at Lisa hold a thumbs up. Lisa smiled getting excited at the opportunity. At that moment Clyde opened his eyes and saw that his head was laying on Reggie's upper thighs, Clyde instantly sat up blushing.
"Easy now Clyde you'll be a bit dizzy, gather your self a bit." Reggie said with a tone of concern.
"How long was I out for?" Clyde asked still blushing.
"Just 5 minutes Buddy." Lincoln answered. Clyde remembered why he fainted and looked back at Lincoln trying to think of something to say. Lincoln could sense this and simply put his hand up.
"It's okay Clyde you don't need to say anything, these scars are my badges of honour from that hellhole I was at. No need to try to comfort me Buddy." Lincoln reassured his oldest friend. Clyde seemed relieved at those words.
"Clyde you missed Lincoln pulling out some sick moves." Ronnie-Anne spoke exclaiming her amazement. Lincoln lightly blushed.
"I'm far from perfect Ronnie-Anne, I still have a long way to go til I can go toe to toe with someone like Nagi and Sensei Sylphiea." Lincoln shyly scratched the back of his head.
"I'll say. You really need to work on the timing of your strikes and your counters are lacking power." Sylphiea lightly scolded her apprentice.
"Yes Sensei." Sylphiea flicked his nose playfully.
"But you have improved from last time." Sylphiea smiled.
"Alright Lincoln we'll call it here for sparring today, we got to get the house set up and YOU are on vacation for the next little while; so get." Nagi playfully messed his hair up and gave him a light push.
"Okay, but you had better stay out of trouble while I'm gone, and Reggie's in charge of our finances." Lincoln looked over to Reggie , who was busy checking on Clyde to make sure he was okay. Lincoln and his crew smiled at this.
"Reggie?" Nagi spoke with a wide grin on his face, as Reggie jumped, looked back to Nagi blushing a bit.
"Yes, right I'm in charge of our crew's finances." Reggie quickly spoke, now blushing bright red.
"You getting distracted with your new friend there Reggie?" Alexander teased, Reggie only scowled at him.
"Shut it Alexander." Reggie's tone became a bit of a growl. Alexander put his hands up in defeat but he kept smiling.
"Okay well then we'll be heading home, come on guys there's still some stuff I want to do today." Lincoln grabbed his clothes and put them back on while walking to the side gate. The Louds got up and said a polite farewell and walked to the side gate with Lincoln. Ronnie-Anne walked over to Lincoln and started a small chat about how his crew was weird but nice people. Clyde got up thanking Reggie for looking after him while he was unconscious, and made his way to the side gate with everyone else. Lincoln leaned over to Clyde and whispered to him.
"Well I think Reggie likes you Clyde." Lincoln smirked to him.
"He seemed nice. But I don't know Best Buddy." Clyde stated politely. Lincoln gave a confused look but then understood what he was saying and started to laugh. Now Clyde looked at Lincoln confused.
"Whats so funny Lincoln?" Clyde asked feeling a bit insulted that his friend was laughing at him.
"Sorry Clyde it's just Reggie isn't a he, she's a she." Lincoln laughed harder at Clyde's gaping mouth.
"W-what Reggie's a girl!?" Clyde shouted. Clyde wasn't the only one surprised, all the Louds and Ronnie-Anne were also surprised.
"Her full name is Regina Fera Evens, she's 21 a month older then me." Lincoln explained still smiling a huge mile. "She acts like a tomboy because of her complicated past, and after Nagi took us in she took on the role of a solider and cut her hair short. Don't feel to bad a lot of people make the same mistake." Clyde stopped and took a moment to absorb everything he just learned.
"That explains a lot." Clyde then had a thought. Hey you guys go no I'll catch up in a sec there's something I want to go do." And before anyone could answer Clyde turned around and went back into the yard. Everyone was a bit confused, except Lincoln, he had an idea of what Clyde was doing. They all just shrugged and walked back to the house.
"Okay guys I'm going to take that real shower now, but once I get back I have something that I want to ask you guys." Lincoln turned to his family and Ronnie-Anne and Bobby, before making his way up the stairs to the bathroom. Once Lori heard the door close she turned to her family and Ronnie-Anne and Bobby.
"Okay everyone quick to mine and Leni's room now! Emergency Family Meeting with friends." Everyone nodded and went straight to the oldest Loud sibling's room.
"I'll go get Pop-pop. Leni said heading to the upstairs rooms.
"Okay be quick or we'll start with out you." Lori quickly told Leni. "I'll txt Clyde to hurry up and meet us too." Lori added speaking more to herself then anyone else, while txting Clyde.
After 5 minutes Leni showed up with Pop-pop, and Clyde rushed quickly back over and entered the room. Everyone had found a comfortable place to sit, while Lori stood at Leni's sewing desk holding her shoe and pounding it on the desk calling for silence.
"Okay first, Mom can you please fill Pop-pop in what we found out about Lincoln" Rita went over to her father and told him about the cars all over Lincoln, Pop-pop went pale thinking that not even his enemies back in his army days were ever that cruel. "Okay next order of business, how do we handle this?" Lori asked for someone to have an answer.
"What do you mean Lori?" Lucy asked the eldest sibling.
"I mean how do we get Lincoln to talk about what he went through, this can't be healthy keeping it all in. I'm worried he'll have a mental brake down." Lori showed a worried expression at the thought of her own words. Her words didn't just scar her.
"Lori we can't think like that, plus Lincoln said he'll tell us the details of what happened when he's ready." Lynn pointed out trying to disperse everyones fears.
"That's true Dude, plus we need to give him his space about that or WE could end up triggering him. Right Pop-pop?" Luna asked looking at her grandpa for support.
"I have known many war buddies that have in fact had a mental break down from being made to remember what they went through, but there were just as many from not talking about it and finding help." Pop-pop spoke not really giving a clear answer. "My advice is to just watch and see which category he falls under and go from there." Pop-pop finalized his opinion.
"We can do that, Lola and I have been studying human facial expression recognition, and we came across an article about signs of P.T.S.D with soldiers." Lana spoke up, and Lola nodding in agreement.
"Okay then Lana and Lola will keep an eye on him when he's at home and can teach those of us that don't already know the signs the signs, and the moment that you think he might come even close to breaking you come get us." Lori ordered the Twins. They saluted in response.
"You know it's still hard to believe that our gentle, thoughtful, selfless, caring Lincy would become a violet, tortured, secretive, grown man." Leni spoke her thought out loud.
"Hey he's still all those good things, he's just got the rest of those things in addition. He's not a new Lincoln he's just grown up since we last saw him." Lynn Sr. interjected trying to keep his family from getting too depressed by the subject,
'Plus Lincoln's not the only one who's changed over these 10 years." Lisa added to her father's lame attempt at cheering everyone up, but everyone only focused on the fact that Lincoln grew up 10 years away from them.
"Hey what do you call someone who gets soap in their mouth while singing in the shower?" Luan asked the silent room, but didn't wait for an answer. "You call them an Soapera Singer! Get it? Hahaha!" Everyone burst into laughter at Luan's excellent joke, Luan smiled succeeding in lightening the mood.
"Good one Luan. We needed that apparently." Lucy spoke in her monotone voice, but smiling her rare smile.
"Okay now that we feel better and have a plan, on to the next order of business. How do we fairly schedule spending time with Lincoln." Lori stated.
"Lori, Sweetheart, what o you mean exactly?" Rita asked not understanding what her daughter meant.
"Well Mom I mean that we all are thinking the same thing. We plan to take time from our schooling and jobs so we can spend as much as we can with Lincoln instead we need a schedule a way to give everyone equal time with Lincoln. After all I don't want anyone accusing someone of hogging Lincoln or Lincoln playing favorites." Lori explained her reasoning, everyone nodded thinking that as a good point, how would they schedule their time with Lincoln?
'Now Lori I don't want you girls putting off school, if we're going to do this then you all have to figure out how to juggle school in with the schedule." Lynn Sr. said with a firm tone, that told the girls this was not up for negotiations.
"I think I have the solution." Lily spoke up, apparently nobody noticed that she was drawing on the chalk board since Lori brought up the subject of a schedule. Lily drew up just that a schedule. "Okay so the way all of our schedules work out this is what it looks like. Lori and Leni have Monday free, Lori in the morning from 8am-2pm and Leni has 2pm-8pm in the afternoon. Luna and Luan are free Tuesday, Luna is free in the morning from 8am-2pm, Luan has 2pm-8pm. Lynn and Lucy share Wednesday, Lynn in the morning at 8am-2pm, Lucy the afternoon from 2pm-8pm. Lana and Lola don't have plans on Thursdays, Lana get the morning stating at 8am ending at 2pm, Lola the afternoon from 2pm to 8pm. Lisa and I get Friday, Lisa you get the morning fro8am til 2pm, then I get him from 2pm til 8pm. Mom and Dad get Saturday morning from 8am-2pm, and Pop-pop has Saturday afternoon from 2pm-8pm. Finally Clyde, Ronnie-Anne, and Bobby get Sunday, though I don't know how to divide that one up because I don't know your schedules. Sorry" Lily took a deep breath from her long winded explanation. Everyone was silent with amazement at Lily's ability to coordinate everyone's schedule so well.
"Wow Lily that's pretty impressive, but why do they all start at 8m and end at 8pm?" Lola asked her baby sister.
"Well it's mostly for Lincoln, I figured he'd like to have a predictable pattern, so that his body would get use to the schedule easier." Lily answered.
"That is sound logic." Lisa said supporting Lily's reasoning.
"Plus we each get six hours to spend with Lincy." Lily added.
"Okay then Clyde, Ronnie-Anne, Bobby does Sunday work for you three?" Lori looked to the three.
"If Ronnie-Anne's okay with it I'll take the morning half from 8am-2pm." Clyde offered looking over to Ronnie-Anne.
"It doesn't bother me, I actually prefer the 2pm-8pm anyway." Ronnie-Anne answered. Lori looked over to Bobby.
"Bobby what about you?" Lori asked. Bobby sighed, and scratched his head.
"I honestly don't think I can take anytime off from work, and I know I won't be able to get a Sunday off." Bobby explained.
"Well we'll think of something." Lori said reassuring that it was okay, Bobby smile in appreciation.
"Wait I just realized something Dudes." Luna spoke up suddenly, everyone looked at her. "What if Lincoln has plans of his own or doesn't want to follow the schedule, I mean he's not a trained monkey after all." No one had ever thought that maybe Lincoln would want to do his own thing or that he would have a problem with having a schedule forced on him.
"Lily go get your sketchbook and draw up the schedule and we'll take it to Lincoln and ask him his opinion." Lori said, finding a solution to their problem. Lily nodded her head and ran to her and Lisa's room, and in 30 seconds returned and began writing down her schedule.
"Okay now we just wait for Lincoln to get out of the bathroom and we'll ask him for his opinion." Lori reaffirmed. "This meeting is adjourned." Lori then pounded her shoe on the desk.
"Lincoln's not in the bathroom anymore." Lily spoke up still writing down the schedule. Everyone jumped up at that and made for the door.
"Why didn't you say anything Lily!?" Lynn scolded her sister.
"Because I was focused on getting the schedule rewritten." Lily answered finishing her job and following everyone down stairs.
The moment they got down stairs they smelled food coming from the kitchen. They all made their way to the dinning room. They saw that the McBrides, and the rest of the Santiagos were all sitting making small chit-chat. Maria noticed them walk in first.
"There you all are, we didn't know where you all went til Lincoln told us you were up stairs." Maria got up and hugged her children. "Come sit down Lincoln is making us breakfast." As if on cue Lincoln walked out of the kitchen with a plate of bacon, and a plate of eggs balancing on his right arm, and a plate of biscuits and a bowl of sausage gravy.
"Hey guys. You finally finished your family meeting I see." Lincoln smirked at the group.
"How did you know that that was what we were doing!?" Lily asked her big brother surprised and amazed.
"Hahaha, well it's not hard to figure out what you'd all do as soon as we got home and I left the room." Lincoln smiled placing the plates down.
"Wow Lincoln you put the fast in breakfast, hahahaha." Luan laughed at her own pun, Lincoln laughed with her.
"Good one Luan I've seriously missed your humor." Lincoln went back to the kitchen to retrieve the rest of the food.
"Seriously though Lincoln how did you make all this in the short amount of time since we got home 20 minutes ago?" Lola asked picking a seat at the table.
"Well I made it all before I did my morning exercises, and put them in the over on warm, so that they would still be warm." Lincoln explained the magic behind this 'sudden' meal. "Okay everyone let's all sit down and get us some grub, before it gets cold." Lincoln announced putting a plate of buttered toast down, and sat where he sat last night, before Sylphiea showed up. His family, Clyde, Ronnie-Anne, and Bobby all took their seats, but this time Ronnie-Anne at next to Lincoln. The Loud girls gave her a brief look of jealousy. For the younger four siblings it was pure sibling desire to want to sit next to their brother, but for the older six it was something more that they couldn't quiet figure out.
Once everyone had started to dish their plates and and made some small talk, such as the Santiago's and the McBride's telling Lincoln what they have been up to these last ten years; to which Lincoln listened to intently. Lincoln then looked to Lori
"So Lori when are you and Bobby going to get married? Or are you two just engaged?" Lincoln asked , as the room suddenly got tense. Lincoln noticed that everyone went quiet and stared at Lori and Bobby.
"What's wrong, did I miss something?" Lincoln asked now also looking to Lori and Bobby. Lori sighed and looked to Lincoln kindly and answered him.
"Bobby and I broke up three years ago Lincoln." Lincoln was surprised at hearing that.
"Yeah Little Buddy, but don't worry we ended it on mutual terms and are still good friends." Bobby added thinking that it was an important detail he needed to know.
"But you two were perfect together. What happened?" Lincoln asked with a curious tone.
"Well I was busy with my law classes and when I wasn't focusing on that I was helping Dad with the restaurant, I just didn't have time for Bobby." Lori spoke a little ashamed not telling the entire story.
"Yeah and when she was free I was busy with getting my own business licenses for the many small businesses I started up." Bobby inputed his share of blame, and also not telling the whole story.
"Wait you started your own businesses Bobby?" Lincoln looked over to him shocked.
"Yup all those jobs I had when I was in high school paid off. I have a limo driving business, a private security company, and my Abuelo's store is now mine" Bobby proudly announced his successful businesses.
"Wow good for you Bobby. I am sorry to hear about you and Lori." With the tension gone everyone went back to eating and conversations with others continued, but Lori did notice that when Lincoln said he was sorry he had smiled like he heard the best news ever. Lori was curious as to why he would be happy about her and Bobby being broken up.
"So on another note, I'm curious as to what you guys were talking about in your 'secret' family meeting?" Lincoln looked to his family smirking. With that said Lily got up and rushed to her big brother holding the sketched out schedule and handed it to Lincoln.
"We were discussing how to divide your time up so you could spend time with everyone equally, and we wanted o see how you felt about it Lincy." Lily said as Lincoln gabbed her and sat her on his knee and looked at the beautifully drawn schedule with Lily.
"Wow nice design Lily you're a great artist I can tell." Lincoln complimented his baby sister, also giving her a big hug making her giggle and smile. As Lincoln looked at the schedule his family and friends were silent awaiting for him to say something. Lincoln looked up at everyone, and they looked back at him.
"So what do you think Lincy? Is this okay with you?" Leni asked.
"Or do you not want to be bound to a schedule that tells you to spend time with us against your will?" Lucy asked her monotone voice cracking from fear of Lincoln rejecting their ideas.
Lincoln smiled at Lucy reassuringly, "Luce you know I would never feel forced to spend time with you guys. I was just thinking of activities that I want to do with you guys, also I had a question I wanted to ask you guys."
"What is is Lincoln?" Lana being the first to asked.
"Well I thought I'd ask you all to the movies." Lincoln asked looking to his family and friends.
"Your mother and I would love to Son but your mother has a book meeting and I have to got over some paperwork over at Loud Flavors." Lynn Sr. said hints of sadness in his tone, and his wife wearing a look of sorrow.
"And I'm no spring chicken White-top, So I won't be tagging along. Sorry Kiddo." Pop-pop said looking down in shame.
"Hey Dad, Mom, Pop-pop that's okay, if I read that schedule correctly I end up having 8pm of every day to do what ever I want, so I'll just spend a bit of extra time with you guys to balance it out." Lincoln pointed out to his parents easing their sorrow.
"But Lincoln we gave you that time to yourself so that you could still do the things you wanted to do, and so that you wouldn't play favorites with anyone." Lola spoke up feeling that Lincoln was giving more time to her parents and their grandfather then to her his Princess. Lincoln laughed and looked at Lola.
"Well if it is my time to do as I wish then I'm going to use it to spend time with all of you as a family. Does that seem fair to you my Princess?" Lincoln asked in a kind tone to his little sister.
"You can do that dear Brother, but are you sure you wouldn't rather do your own activities? After all we wouldn't want to over whelm you" Lisa spoke to reconfirm Lincolns decision.
"I've had ten years worth of a break from all of you, I really don't need or want any more. I've apparently missed out on so much already." Lincoln gently but firmly held Lily as close to him as he could. Everyone caught his meaning.
"Sorry Lincoln, we thought that you would want some alone time with all the smothering we plan to do to you." Lisa exclaimed adjusting her glasses.
"Hey you have nothing to be sorry for Lisa I'm happy that you made this schedule. I'm all for it, but only that on the conditions that I get to plan the days activities, and I can combine times if there's an event that I want to take two or more of my sisters on, also I hold the right to trade your days with each other under the pretext that there is an activity I want to take a certain person to. Deal?" Lincoln looked to his family, Clyde, and Ronnie-Anne. They all smiled.
"You got a Deal. Now what was the movie you had in mind Linc?" Lynn asked her brother getting them back on track.
"Well I wanted everyone's input first, so anything come to your guys' minds?" Lincoln asked, and everyone gave their choice and it came down to four movies. Lori, Leni, and Lola wanted to watch a drama film tittled 'The Geisha's Trial's.' Lynn, Ronnie-Anne, and Lucy wanted to watch to new horror film tittled 'Axe Murder Murderer.' Luna, Luan, Lana, and surprisingly Lisa (I later found out she likes watching action films so that she can debunk all the preposterous stunts they show.) wanted to watch the new action/comedy film 'Hard to Live Harder to Kill.' Finally Bobby, Clyde, and Lily wanted to watch the latest Princess Pony Movie 'Kinship is Euphoric.'
"Hmmm all those sound good. Well you guys go get ready after breakfast and we'll head out when you're all ready." Lincoln suggested.
"Wait Linc, Bro you didn't say the movie you wanted to watch." Luna caught and pointed out.
"Well see I'm not sure if it's in theaters yet or not, so I'll just see when we get there." Lincoln smiled at Luna.
"Well what movie is it Lincoln?" Clyde asked his oldest best friend.
"Not saying til I know whether it's playing or not." Lincoln smirked.
"Stop trying to play it cool Lame-O." Ronnie-Anne playfully slugged his left arm, smiling at his playfulness. After that the kids were all excited, they scarfed all their food and went to go get ready for the movies. The girls took the up stairs bathroom to get ready, and Bobby and Clyde used the one down stairs that was installed when they renovated. Lincoln cleared the table talking with the adults.
"Son you don't have to clear the table, we can do that." Lynn Sr. offered his son.
"It's fine Dad I do this all the time for my crew." Lincoln assured is father while walking to the kitchen.
"Speaking of your crew Sweetheart, I was wondering where are their families?" Rita asked her son. Lincoln paused trying to think of an appropriate response.
"Well you already know that Regina was an orphan, the Twin's well they came from a very... closed minded family and don't want to ever go back. Now Nagi his family is very unusual to say the least, but they live on an island. That's actually where we spent our first two weeks after Nagi rescued us, it's a beautiful but dangerous place." Lincoln stared of into the distance fondly at the memory of his time on Nagi's home island.
"Well maybe one day we could meet Nagi's parent and thank them for raising a swell person." Lynn Sr. suggested, and at that moment a phone rang. Lincoln pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and answered it.
"NO!" A loud voice yelled into the phone making Lincoln hold the phone far from his ear, then hung up. Lincoln's parents could hear the voice clearly.
"Who's that?!" Lynn Sr. asked with a look of surprise.
"That was Nagi's answer about meeting his folks." Lincoln answered putting his phone back in his pockets.
"How did he even know what we were talking about?" Rita asked amazed at the coincidence.
"He probably had the house bugged." Lincoln casually spoke.
"He did what?!" Both Loud parents asked looking at their on with wide eyes.
"Relax I'm kidding, it's just one of the things that make Nagi, well Nagi. He says he gets it from his father." Lincoln reassured his parents with a smile. Both parents weren't one hundred percent assured though, after all Lisa and Luan had their hidden cameras, having secret listening devices wasn't a far stretch.
"I promise you guys there are no bugs, and if you still have doubts later I'll ask Nagi myself. He sucks at lying." Lincoln again smiled at his parents. At that point everyone in the dining room heard the sounds of feet stampeding down the stairs as all the girls came down from taking quick showers and putting make-up on, and the boys came up from their quick showers. Everyone reconvened in the dinning room looking to Lincoln.
"Okay Lincoln we're ready to make like a tree and leaf. Hahaha, get it?" Luan joked. Lincoln laughed at Luan's simple joke.
"Yeah just let me get my jacket, and we'll hope in Ronda and be off." Lincoln announced to the group. They all filed out excitedly to Ronda, Lincoln kissed his parents and grandfather good-bye and that he'll see them later and walked out closing the door behind him. Lincoln got in Ronda and drove off ready for some quality time with his loved ones.
A/N: Hey everyone sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out, I have been dealing with some stressful things in my personal life, and have been a bit depressed. But hey finally Chapter 5 is here. Hope you like it, though if somethings don't make sense it's because I typed some of this while having zero sleep for a whole day. I'll go over the chapter and fix an problem at a later date. Now I'll be working on Chapter 6.