Leni Loud
These two words that were uttered by a boy in front of her, whom her Colt pistol was aiming indirectly in his head, have completely ticked-off her already feeble, but scared, nervous, and teary-filled mind as she slowly began to shake her body up in hesitation of pulling the trigger at him.
It can't be. It can't be. How? She angrily thought to herself as the pistol that she is holding is slowly shaking apart, thanks to some things that were imprinted inside of her feeble mind that orders to obey some things in a place that was appropriate to use such things.
And yet for Leni; this was the inappropriate place that she has chosen to make a stand-off with.
And the one that she knew that would constitute a crime that she knew, inside of her heart, couldn't regret - even to herself.
But she had seen that kind of things when she was younger than the current one and in a continent where its surroundings were once burned-up by hatred, anger, and some things that were associated with war in general, which resulted in countless deaths, destruction, and the loss that she experienced first-hand, when the war nearing its, ironically, a finale that everyone witnessed - including herself.
Especially to that one event where she, along with her squadmates of the Michigan State National Guard and another squad that belonged to New York State National Guard, encountered a group of German soldiers - with their ages between the typical teenage years, typical for some of the auxiliary armed groups like the Volkssturm when it comes to their age group - after they came out from the ruins of once a restaurant/cafe in one of the major cities in mainland Denmark; with all of their hands raised in the air, some of them are carrying stripped white clothes in their hands - signifying that they were surrendering to them.
But what she didn't expect that their 'surrender' act was more than an act of humanity; and instead, that this act of surrender was using as a vehicle for two Schutzstaffel - SS for short - die-hard personnel behind their backs; carrying MP-40 in their hands, intending to ambush both of the squads as they approached.
But their intended ambush plan fails when a member of the NYSNG noticed something strange behind the backs of the would-be German prisoners which he immediately alerted his squadmates, and it led to the unfortunate deaths of the so-called prisoners and as well as those two armed SS men by the same NYSNG squad as they thought they would predict that those German "prisoners" would carry a piece of Stielhandgranate - or the 'Potato Masher Grenade' as they were cheekily called thanks to its unusual shape - behind their distinctive, but a ragged grey coat of theirs.
But it did eventually predicted as it seems. Except in another way around.
As she, and her squadmates, witnessing the same squad of the NYSNG just a couple of meters away from them that is approaching the bombed-out fancy restaurant to sweep the restaurant clean from any would-be ambushers; a single German soldier suddenly came-out from the said building, charging towards the same squad with his right arm slightly raised and holding a Stielhandgranate - with its safety pin removed - while shouting the words, in German, that were recognizable to her, and her squadmates; the one when you need to praise to the Führer himself.
And with a single second later; the same NYSNG squad was no more. Instead, it was replaced with blood and bits and pieces of their bodies that were strewn in the dust-filled road of the city. She could remember the scream of a single survivor of his squad crying for help, and when she and her squadmates tried to help him, she immediately puked out on the road as she saw both of the soldier's leg were completely amputated the grenade blast. And his face too was completely peppered with shrapnels that blinded both of his eyes. As well as the rest of his body as well.
With his gruesome condition on her hands; she knew that he would die at the moment they helped him bring to the nearby medical station just outside of the battle-lines of this city
In which he did, in front of her squad that that was trying to help him, breathing its last air from his mouth, and his whole battered body eventually went limp as a result
The fact that the soldier that she witnessed had died so young in a terrible way - in which, according to some of his former mates that she talked to after this incident; that the soldiers had himself enlisted in the NYSNG even though that his current age is less than a year before the National Guard's mandate age of 17 years old - that it made her feeble mind shaken a little bit from the nightmarish and gruesome experiences while fighting against the Nazis in Europe. Terrifying her to no end, which completely affected her life even to this very day that she lives and breaths inside of her home.Transforming her once kind, but ditzy, person, into a regretful, sad monster that had seen war in Europe, including the one that she considers more than a sister.
Seconds later, with her whole body shivered that was reluctant of shooting such a young boy like Lincoln Loud, and even Lisa Loud too, that were clearly aimed through their heads. I don't wanna do this. I don't wanna do this...
Leni immediately lowered her Colt pistol that was aiming at him, and enraged from such memories that were currently flooding inside of her mind, she immediately shouted in the air, "GODDAMN IT!", before turning herself towards the nearby wall and she immediately kicked it two times, repeatedly shouting the same two words again, and again, with her pistol tigthly holding in her right hand as well.
For Lincoln, as he immediately lowers his both arms after a sudden change of events that he witnessed, never expected that Leni; the one Leni that he always seen around and outside of house, was far more different than what Leni had in her life before the event that teleported her, and the rest of his siblings and her mother, and as well as the whole nation of Japan, back to the year of 1939, where the world is beginning to burn itself out in another world war that she, and the rest of the family that he belonged, probably experienced.
I would never expect that her personality would change overtime after spending years and years trapped in the world...that she never belonged at all to begin with. Lincoln thought to himself as Lisa Loud, whom she quickly stood out from the floor of the storage room that she and Lincoln had ducked after Leni, or rather, a grown-up and troubled Leni fired a round with her pistol, after she witnessed the sudden change of emotions in front of her; just as Leni herself eventually stopped kicking and shouting at the same time and was followed with her soft crying with her tears from her eyes falling to her aging cheeks.
Lincoln slightly looked at Lisa, whispering to her. "What'dya think about her, sis, I couldn't think myself that we finally met Leni, and yet...she's far more erratic, far more unstable than the Leni we had, right?"
Lisa responded to him. "Well, from the time that we had to arrive after some miscalculation on our part and our Temporal Machine; we believed that, after she and half of our family arriving in this world in the year of 1939, I would completely believe that their personalities, and their emotions that they've had before and we experienced with it, would finally change as the time passed, and even they will experience the change of their basic personalities after witnessing events that were either good or bad, depending on the severity of the event that she had witnessed in front of her eyes."
"And that's why, I was shocked and surprised at the same time that Leni, back in our days when she would greatly refuse to touch that kind of dangerous things like the pistol that she was holding now, even though she was ditzy and picky sometimes when it comes to choosing things in our home...and yet, she now knew how to operate such things that nearly killed us, Lisa."
"You're technically correct, Linc."
"Then what are we gonna do then, sis? I couldn't approach or talk to her because Leni would probably enrage at me, and ended up dead in the spot if I startled her."
Lisa reluctantly replied, "I don't know, Lincoln...I don't wanna die in this foreign land after creating such machine to rescue her, and the rest of the family, which ended up myself nearly getting my brains blown out by Leni herself!"
Lincoln was very hesitant, and at the same time scared at this point because of the near-death situation that he experienced.
I don't wanna go near Leni 'cause I don't want a single bullet in my head. But-but...Leni is my sister, the long-lost sister that I greatly missed every-time I think about her. And the sister that I considered more than a sister than the other siblings I had in my life...
And with this another chance that appeared again in his mind, Lincoln began to act.
"Lisa."
An exasperated Lisa looks at him again. "What now, Linc? Just go and carefully try to talk to he-"
"I'll gonna approach her, Lisa, and I'll gonna give to Leni the memories that she needs. The memories that would make her remember who we are and I'll make change her emotions that she had today."
"You sure about that, Linc?" Lisa remarked to him. "Because the plan that you've relied on, will trigger hidden memories that Leni had intentionally forgotten about, to the point that, if she suddenly remembers those memories that she experienced very badly, she would probably kill you at the spot! Please, Linc, please rethink about your-"
"Don't need that advice, Lisa. I will perfectly handle it by myself. I am not scared at all!" Lincoln confidently said to her, despite some qualms on his part about the flaws of his plan that he created right at the moment where he took his chance to immediately act on his part.
But I have to do this. I am going to calm Leni down, and give her some reality that she needed after she nearly got all of us killed. I don't care that if I die...I just wanted to be her happy, because I am already here in this another world she already belonged.
And from there, Lincoln began to approach Leni as she was still crying over the pain that she remembered, with her head and her left arm slouched against the wall while standing.
With his soft voice, Lincoln attempts to calm her down with some 'words of wisdom' as he would say. "Listen there, miss. I know that you are cryin' in the wall but, I just wanna talk to you-"
"What you want?" Leni tearingly replied to him.
Lisa face-palmed herself, "this is a big mistake, Lincoln is slowly getting us all killed in the process..."
"Just-just stop crying in front of me, miss, I know that you've got big problems in your hands right now. The memories of yours are currently flooding your judgment and your mind as well, memories that you've never wanted to experience at all. I am simply approaching you because-"
"Because what?"
"Because...because I wanted to talk to you," Lincoln assured as he stopped approaching her just a little bit far between them. "I am not harming you, miss. Let's have a chat together..."
With these words of encouragement coming from him, Leni's eyes, which became redder as a result of his cries, moved away from the top of her left arm and looked towards Lincoln himself.
"A chat?" She tenderly said to him.
Lincoln nodded.
"Wh-what you want from me then?"
"Nothing, miss," Lincoln replied to her as he moves his right hand towards the pocket of his jeans, and quickly took out a colored picture that was imprinted in the paper. "Just this picture that I brought for you to remember it..."
"What is that?" Leni asked him.
Lincoln sighed a little bit before showing the photo that was holding in his right hand in which Leni immediately moved her eyes towards the picture he was holding.
"This is the picture that you, Lori, Lynn, Lola, and my mom, Rita Loud that you've taken at the top of the Tokyo Skytree just a day before the nation of Japan suddenly transported back in time in 1939 that the
half of my family was currently visiting that country due to thanks to an invitation that was given to my sister, Lynn Loud, to compete in a foreign soccer competition that takes place in the same nation for which Rita accepted it and she brought along four sisters to that fateful trip..."
"Lori...Lynn...Lola..." Leni softly repeated these words as she began to bring up the memories she wanted to forget all about it
How? How? How? How? It can't be. That's impossible. I recognize the voice of this little boy...but I can't remember his name. Did I intentionally forget anything? Did I? Leni thought to herself
Lincoln was slowly becoming frustrated at this point. "Can you remember anything in this picture that I was holding in my hand? Be-because you were in there! I know that you've remembered this picture, but please say, something miss..."
"Picture..." Leni softly repeated these words.
Oh, God. Oh, God. I don't want- I don't want to remember it. But my nerves kept digging the memories that I wanted to forget. B-but I couldn't stop... Leni thought to herself again just as her reluctant mind began to flood the memories, both good and bad, which she intentionally kept behind the darkness.
As she continually stares at that picture that she couldn't remember; Leni began to shiver throughout her body once again with the pain that she carried, and her heart began to pound harder than would a normal one.
I can't stop the memories that were flooding inside of my mind. I have to stop it- but I can't. I can't. Leni thought to herself again, as the unmistakable and recognizable voice of a young boy in front of her kept ringing inside of her mind.
I have to control myself. I have to control myself. I don't want to see my world in front of me suddenly collapse...
I have to do this.
I have to.
I have to.
I have to...
"Lincoln," Leni suddenly asked him after a sudden change of her emotion, in a normal voice that she uses when she is not, or rather, she finished crying to herself in front of the wall of her house.
"What is it?" Lincoln replied to her.
"The picture...the picture that is in your hands..."
Lincoln was stunned for a moment. He couldn't believe to herself that Leni suddenly remembers his name. And how?
Lisa Loud then came to Lincoln's side and asked him, "did the plan worked huh, Linc?"
"I guess so-"
"Give me the paper now, Linky..." Leni said to him once again. This time, on a tone that was wavered between the kind voice and threatening voice that she had in her voicebox. "Don't make me wait in here..."
Lincoln and Lisa looked at each other for a moment before the former finally giving the picture that Leni needs, which she grabbed from Lincoln's right hand.
Along with that; Lincoln also noticed that Leni's Colt pistol, which was still holding in her right hand even she was crying in front of her wall, slightly raised her right arm that shaped like an 'L' and aimed it towards Lisa's head.
Lisa, in response, simply swallowed her throat in disappointment.
"Not again," Lisa whispered to herself.
But as Leni was stood frozen still as her eyes stared at the picture that Lincoln 'gave' to her; looking at the people that were frozen in that images, smiling, and staring at her.
She suddenly felt something within her own body. Something, that she couldn't even explain to herself, or even to Lincoln or a weird young girl with the glasses that stood beside him.
And as she is continually staring at the same picture for a couple of seconds, then later minutes, while she stood frozen there with her Colt pistol slightly aimed at the two people in front of her, albeit with little shivering in her already tired right hand in this time.
She suddenly felt something...cold inside of her house.
And as she kept staring and staring at the same photo for a couple of minutes in her left hand, especially to that single person that stood beside her while taking a single, recognizable photo just above the Tokyo Skytree.
That same person she'd recognized when she was there by her side.
A sister.
A sister that was elder than her.
And a sister, that she considered more than a friend.
And with it, the feeble mind of Leni Loud suddenly went blank.
From there, she suddenly felt the cold air around her.
The cold, Arctic air that she felt every day when she was on a continent that was burning at the time.
The same continent that were tasked to extinguished all of the flames that completely damaged the whole properties, and destroys lives of countless people in its wake.
And the same Arctic cold air, that eventually flashes her back into the place that she recognized...the same place where the 'grey coats' with weapons in their hands, that are chasing her, her sister, and her squadmates, out of the forest itself...
Somewhere in Schleswig-Holstein, Greater Germanic Reich, Mid-November, 1941...
"Leni, don't try to look back! Those Krauts are gonna kill you. Don't stop, just keep running, Leni!"
To be continued...
PSA: For more information about this story, go check out my profile page under the 'Bio' section, and there's a site that you can visit it.
-Prince_Malty
