Some people have told me that Requiem didn't need to be that long, that it could've worked without all the drama and focus on each individual sister, the exploration of their characters, and dwelling on how Lincoln impacted each of their lives. So here's my attempt to work on that particular aspect that I may have failed at conveying. Hope you enjoy it!

Requiem for a Loud 2.0 Ultimate Edition Collector's Pack

Luckily, the neighbors had gotten used to the tumultuous hecatomb that was released every time the Loud family decided to get in the van to go anywhere. That Sunday morning, as thirteen heads tried to get ready for a nice trip to the park, was no different.

"I'll take the front!"

"No, you'll take the back!"

"I want the window!"

"This seat smells worse than Lana!"

"Hey, nothing smells worse than me!"

"I like this seat. It makes me feel like I'm in a coffin."

"Nice try, Luna, but the back seat has my name on it."

"You can't always get what you want, sis."

"If you don't back off right now, you'll end up like that one guy that lost his left hand and left foot."

"Wow, Luan, literally way too harsh."

"Why? He's ALL-RIGHT now. Haha! Get it?"

"You're not even trying now, are you?"

The radiant blue sky had no clouds on it, a perfect picture of a beautiful day. The warm spring breeze carried the delicious smell of flowers and wet grass, inviting everyone to go outside and enjoy themselves.

Nothing in that warm, happy day seemed to foreshadow the terrible storm it was about to hover over the Louds.

Lincoln was sitting on his house's entry, contemplating the way his sisters fought to the death for the change of getting a good seat in the van. He reminisced with a smile on his face just how just a few weeks ago, his plan to get the Sweet Spot for himself had backfired tremendously, leading them all to a similar situation. He reckoned his sisters hadn't fully forgiven him yet for the strings he tried to pull, manipulating them to get the best seat for himself. Thus he had decided to stay out of the skirmish, letting them all figure out where they wanted to seat, and then taking whatever was left for himself. It would save him a lot of trouble.

Besides, he wasn't feeling well. He'd been feeling exhausted for the last two days, getting agitated over the smallest efforts and getting strong headaches out of nowhere. He reasoned it was due to his messed-up sleeping schedule, so he shrugged it off. Still, any fight he could avoid until he felt better...

"Lincoln!" Yelled Lola, creating a temporary hiatus in the female battle royale. "Why are you sitting there all alone?"

"Did you find a new 'sweet spot'?" Lana accused him.

"N-No, not at all!" He blurted, watching his sisters rapidly approaching with hostile intentions.

"You okay, dude?" Asked Luna, noticing he wasn't looking as energic as always.

"Yes, I'm okay. It's just… Well…"

"Lincoln, what is it?" Said Lori, impatiently.

He sighed. "I thought you were still mad at me about the whole 'sweet spot' thing, so I decided to wait for you guys to get your seats first. I don't want any more trouble between you guys and me."

The sisters exchanged guilty looks. Lincoln wasn't above having his selfish moments, like that time he bought a pool just for himself, but in the end, he was always a well-intentioned brother that cared deeply about his siblings. Somehow, hearing him say that he didn't want to fight with them opened their eyes to see how absurd the whole situation was.

"Come on, Lincoln, let's get in the van before mom and dad get here," said Lori, approaching her brother and walking him to the van.

"Sooooo, where are we sitting?" He asked.

"Everyone, make a line, from youngest to oldest, and get in the seats from the front to the back," she quickly instructed.

Without arguing, everyone made a line and got into the car, starting with Lisa.

"Leni," Lori sighed.

"Yeah?" Asked the blonde with the warmest of smiles.

"You're the second oldest."

"Why yes, I am!"

That means you go AFTER everyone else."

"Okay!" She said, moving to the end of the line and letting the twins get inside.

Lucy went immediately after, but before Lincoln could step inside, Lori stopped him. "Lynn, would you mind going in now and let Lincoln have the Sweet Spot? I think he's earned it... just this once."

"But I—!" Lynn stopped halfway through the sentence when she saw the way the oldest sibling was glaring at her. "I mean, of course, bro! You've earned it."

With a light, gentle punch to the shoulder, and after earning a nod from Lori, she jumped in the car. Lincoln put one step inside and turned to look at her oldest sister. "Thanks, Lori."

"Don't mention it, twerp. Literally. Never."

After that, the rest of the girls got inside, just in time for their parents to come out of the house carrying Lily. They entered the van and, after securing the baby in her seat, Lynn Sr turned on the engine.

"You know what, kids? I think you broke a record today! I wasn't even done putting on my shirt when you stopped fighting! It usually takes your mother and me fifteen minutes to get you to calm down."

"And you would've taken longer this time!" Lana said with excitement in her voice. "It was a slaughter!"

"But then I saw Lincoln all dopey and sad on the door, so we stopped fighting," added Lola. "Which technically means you should thank ME for ending everything so fast. You're welcome!"

"What do you mean? What's wrong, Lincoln?" Asked Rita, turning to look at her son.

He was about to answer, but Lucy spoke first.

"He helped us realize how pointless our fighting was. Getting a good seat doesn't stop our restless march towards inevitable death."

"Too dark, sis," Luna said, shivering.

"Lucy's right... about the first thing, the second part was literally too weird. Lincoln didn't want to fight for a seat, so he stepped aside. And that made us realize how dumb the whole thing was, honestly."

The parents looked at each other.

"Wow, Lincoln, that was really mature," Rita said.

"Thanks, mom."

"I mean it. I think you're getting closer and closer to the grown-up table after fall."

"No he's not," the ten sisters replied in chorus.

"Thanks for the support, guys," Lincoln deadpanned. "If I'm not at the grown-up table it's just because I don't feel like giving up my dessert yet. If I really wanted to be there, I could totally do it."

"Stinkoln, you're definitely not ready for it," said Lynn, with a cocky smile.

"Alright, that's enough, no fighting until we get to the park," said their dad, ending any discussion.

As the chaos within the van began to emerge once again, with the twins shoving each other, Luna putting her headphones at the top, and Leni asking questions about driving, Lincoln reflected on what his sisters had said. It was true that he had recently tried everything to earn his place at the grown-up table and that had ended poorly for him, but that was just because he sabotaged himself. Acting like a grown-up was boring. He would much rather deal with the jokes, the yelling, and even the food fights he had at the kiddie table. He wasn't about to quit on them yet. Why rush up to get to the grown-up table? He was a kid after all.

He would have enough time to grow up.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before they got to the park. While their parents took Lily to the nearest playground, the rest of the children scattered across the park. Lisa found an anthill and started taking notes on the ants' behavior. Lola and Lana went to the slides and swings, trying to get along with the rest of the kids their age. Lucy looked for a lonely place where no-one would bother her as she wrote her dark poems. Lynn took her soccer ball until she found a couple of boys playing a match and decided to join them. Luna started playing her guitar on top of a bench, with a couple of people watching her and Luan recording everything in case something funny happened, like her sister stage-diving right to the ground. Lori and Leni sat under a tree. While Lori was busy texting Bobby, Leni found herself surrounded by a bunch of boys trying to impress her and get her number.

Oddly enough, Lincoln found himself alone, with no sister trying to get him to do anything. A little taken aback by this, he decided to take advantage of his situation and... do what, exactly? What were eleven-year-olds supposed to do in a park with no one to play with? Bored and without a clue about what he should be doing, he decided to take a walk.

He spent the next hour strolling, but he didn't find anything to do. He toured the whole park, avoiding his sisters until he found a lonely tree with branches that were asking to be climbed. Usually, he wasn't the climbing-trees type, but he was so bored and the tree was so tempting that he decided to go for it regardless. He climbed, and once he reached the top, he decided to rest against the trunk and relax. It was quiet in there, sitting beneath the shadow of the oak, staring at the park from between the leaves.

As his headache returned —it was starting to hurt more often, he realized—, he decided to close his eyes and take a deep breath. He didn't want to fall asleep, but he found a comfortable position where he could chill. Still, he wondered why he was the only one of his family that couldn't find anything to do in a park full of people and opportunities. All his sisters had found their place within seconds of arriving. Lisa, Lucy, and Lori might have enjoyed being undisturbed rather than crowded, but the rest of them had gotten involved with people they barely knew, without really trying. A feeling he had lately been trying to ignore came to him, the awful sensation that he was the only one in the family that wasn't good at anything. The incident with the trophy case was still fresh in his mind. All his sisters were spectacularly good at something, and even though his case wasn't empty now, his trophy wasn't a real one, just a pity gift from his sisters. Perhaps, after all, he wasn't good at anything.

He was startled when he heard a thud and felt the tree shake. He looked down and saw a soccer ball bouncing in the ground, and a girl picking it up.

"Stupid boys," said the girl, kicking the ball once again against the tree. "Who needs them anyway?"

She picked up the ball, but this time she held it against her chest and let herself slide down against the tree.

"Lynn?" Lincoln said in a whisper.

She looked sorrowful, hugging the ball against her chest. Lincoln was positive he'd seen her playing with a group of boys her age not too long ago. Was the game over already? Did they have a fight? He thought about letting her know he was there, but he wasn't sure that would be for the best.

"I don't need them," he heard her mutter. "I don't wanna play with them either. Bunch of losers."

He could sense the hurting in her voice. He knew how much his sister tried to keep a tough girl appearance, so for Lynn to sound this affected, it was probably a big deal. He made up his mind.

"Boo!" He said, dropping next to her from the lowest branch, startling his sister. "Ha! Two for flinching!"

"Hey!" She complained, smiling at the weak punches he gave her. "That's not how it works! You can't just Lucy out of nowhere to scare people!"

"Whatever. What's up? What are you doing here?" He asked nonchalantly.

A shadow crossed Lynn's face. "I was playing with some boys, but they kicked me out."

"What? Why?"

"Guys don't like girls being better than them in sports," she slowly said, looking thoroughly at the ball she held. "Even in school, they always try to avoid me. It's not my fault they're not good enough, you know! If they trained as hard as I do, then they might be great too, and they wouldn't be afraid to get their butts kicked!"

He noticed how sadder she seemed to get with each passing word and decided to intervene. "Well, if they don't want to get an up-close lesson on how to play soccer, it's their loss. Who needs them anyway?"

Lynn looked up at him with a shy smile on her face.

"Thanks, Lincoln. But some sports are meant to be played by more than one person."

"That's what I'm here for."

The big smile Lynn gave him made Lincoln's heart swell with pride.

"You mean it?"

"Of course. Let's kick it up, shall we?"

Lynn quickly stood up and kicked the ball forward.

Lincoln once again began to think about his lack of abilities and his almost empty case. Perhaps, after all, he was good at being a brother to his sisters. He liked that thought. He liked feeling that maybe his skill in life was making his sisters happy. Maybe he wasn't as useless as he thought he was.

He started to play with Lynn, chasing her around the park, trying to get to her and steal the ball. The very few times he managed to get it, he could only keep it for a few seconds before he lost it again. Even though he didn't have his sister's stamina, all these years practicing with her had some benefits, and he could usually keep up with her for about twenty minutes before he got tired.

That day, though, he had to stop after only ten minutes, barely being able to stand up. His heart was beating faster and harder than ever before like it was trying to get out of his chest. His breathing was ragged, unable to catch his breath, and his head was killing him once again. He couldn't believe he was this bad after so little time.

"Alright, Lynn, you win. Can we play something more... still?"

"You gotta work up, bro," she said, doing some tricks with the ball. "Stay right there. Let's practice some long passes, okay?"

"Alright... you go there and... I'll... I'll catch my breath..."

Lynn got about a hundred feet away from him before setting the ball. "Here it goes!"

With a strong kick, the ball went up in the air, landing right in front of Lincoln. Since stopping the ball was his great weakness, he cheated and used his hands to catch it. Lynn yelled something about not being practicing for goalkeeping, but he could barely listen to her. He was feeling dizzy, although it was a strange sensation. It was like everything started moving in slow motion. He could still feel his heartbeat pounding in his chest like his heart didn't know he wasn't running anymore.

"Come on! Kick it back!"

With an inhuman effort, Lincoln managed to kick it, but he couldn't give it the strength he wanted. The ball barely left the ground, rolling pathetically to Lynn's position, stopping under her sole. He realized she was saying something to him, but this time he didn't even hear it, the beating of his heart being too loud on his ears. He took a hand to his head, which was hurting almost as bad as his chest. He didn't remember ever feeling so much pain, and yet he wasn't able to react properly. He was standing still, his gaze lost, completely dazed.

He saw Lynn kicking the ball. He watched it getting closer and closer, bigger and bigger, all in slow motion. He knew what was going to happen way before it did, but he couldn't do anything to stop it. He couldn't dodge it.

With a thud, he fell back on the ground, the ball bouncing right next to him. He felt sore in his forehead, but it was indistinguishable from the overall pain that consumed his every nerve. He couldn't even move anymore. All he could see was the blue sky above.

"Linc! You okay?" He heard, before Lynn's face covered his sight.

She looked worried.

"Lincoln, you're bleeding! You hear me? Lincoln!"

It seemed that she was shaking his shoulders, but he couldn't even answer her. Everything was becoming a blur.

"Lincoln! Lincoln, please! Talk to me! Lincoln!" She said, shaking him harder, some tears appearing in the corner of her eyes. "Lincoln! LINCOLN! Lori! Luna! SOMEBODY! HELP!"

People came in a rush, but he couldn't see who it was. He felt new hands touching him, new voices screaming around him, but everything went dark, and the voices mixed with each other.

He gave one last breath, and then Lincoln Loud was no more.

THE END.