Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image: A tale retold

Chapter twenty-three: Seeing things halfway

To say that the day that Lincoln, a white-haired boy living in Royal Woods, Michigan, had a full day would be a bit of an understatement. It started with two of the Loud sisters that Lincoln had reconciled with, Luna and Luan, inviting him to go check out the restaurant that Lynn Sr., who Lincoln had NOT yet reconciled with, got up and running during the time in which Lincoln was living in Great Lakes City as a (murderous vigilante) runaway.

Everything went downhill shortly after Lincoln and his two sisters arrived at the Loud patriarch's restaurant when Bobby, who got a job at the restaurant, unknowingly let it slip to Lynn Sr. that Leni, one of the loud girls Lincoln hasn't yet reconciled with, was eating lunch at Odin-Dono's, a Swedish and Japanese fusion restaurant that the Ace family owns. Given that not only is Odin-Dono's currently the leading restaurant in Royal Woods and that other restaurants, including the one Lynn Sr. owns, in Royal Woods is losing some business to it, the Loud patriarch's anger at hearing where Leni was at was understandable.

…Wait a minute, what the fuck am I saying? Of course it's not understandable. It never was.

Lynn Sr. went right over to Odin-Dono's, dragged Leni home, grounded her, and likewise told all of his children that they are to cease associating with the Aces. Seeing as how he wasn't one of Mr. Loud's children, Lincoln decided to go over to the Ace's residence to spar with Aggro, the seventeen-year-old Ace brother and the Kendo tutor of the white-haired boy, for a bit. When Lynn Sr. tried to keep Lincoln from leaving to the Ace's residence anyway, he blew up at the Loud patriarch in a manner that made the sisters all fear that their only brother might consider the idea of running way again.

Thankfully, Lincoln had no such intention of running away. True to his word, he was found over at the Ace family residence when Lori came by, shortly after Lincoln himself arrived and was in the middle of a conversation with Aggro. The male Ace twin had been given more details on the whole unfortunate mess that was Lynn Sr. being a worse father than Endeavor. Aggro was also surprised to hear that Leni, the second-oldest Loud sister, had something of a crush on him, with that being the reason why she tried coming over so often with Lincoln whenever the white-haired boy had his Kendo lessons with Aggro.

Lincoln, despite what many of the Loud sisters feared, actually returned home a few hours after he had blown up at the Loud family patriarch. However, Lincoln first required that Lynn Sr. had to do a number of things to 'clean up his act', as it were; Rita, the Loud family matriarch, when she was provided a rundown on everything her significant other had done, contributed no small amount of effort into making Lynn Sr. straighten up and fly right. When the call informing about Lynn Sr. behaving himself had reached the Ace residence, Lincoln decided that he would be able to go back to the Loud residence.

Even though Lynn Sr. had fixed all of his errors that he made in the day, the white-haired boy was still not in any mood to hang near him, or most of the rest of the Louds, for that matter. In fact, Lincoln ended up skipping dinner, something he assured the Loud sisters that came up to check on him (Luna, Lola and Lucy, in that order) was in no way their fault, or the fault of any of the other Loud girls. Lincoln ended up falling asleep, so when he woke up at close to midnight (not due to any nightmares, I assure you), he saw that he was still wearing what he had on when he went to the Ace's residence earlier.

When he had awoken at that late hour, Lincoln felt the effects of his deciding to skip dinner. Figuring that everyone else in the house would be asleep, the white-haired boy got up out of bed, left his room, and made his way to the ground floor, with the intent of heading into the kitchen to grab something to eat. When he went through the living room, Lincoln saw that Lynn Sr. was laying on the sofa, fast asleep; this was clearly some additional punishment of some kind that the Loud patriarch was given by his wife. The white-haired boy, despite being the only other male that was in residence at the moment, was finding it rather difficult to have any sympathy for the Loud family patriarch.

Making sure to keep quiet, Lincoln snuck into the kitchen. He wasn't hungry enough to eat a meal's worth of food; a single, moderate snack would be sufficient to satiate him. Going to the cabinet, Lincoln found a box that contained a few individually wrapped snack cakes, these being those brownies with a very thin layer of chocolate icing on top, and with small bits of colored candy in the icing. He grabbed the box, weighing it a bit to determine if there were any left, and grabbed one when he saw, to his mild amusement, that there was at least one.

The white-haired boy was about to unwrap his snack cake when he stopped short, having noticed that the patio light was on. Curious, Lincoln decided to hold off on unwrapping his snack cake so he could go see what was going on outside that required the patio light to be on. To his surprise, Lincoln found Leni, his ditzy ex-sister who arguably was the Loud sister, forgiven or otherwise, that went through the most today, sitting on the patio, looking up into the night sky. The fashionable Loud sister was so fixated on looking up into the night sky that she had failed to notice Lincoln having come out.

"Hey Leni," Lincoln greeted, making Leni jump a bit in the process.

"Oh!" Leni said upon turning to see her little brother standing there, "Hey, Linky! What are you doing up?"

Giving Leni a wry look that was a mix of mild amusement and curiosity, Lincoln replied in a casual tone, "That's something that I should be asking you." Turning to look up into the night sky, Lincoln remarked, "I can see why you'd think night skies like this are so beautiful."

"Excuse me?" Leni asked, mildly confused.

"You were the one who gave me the idea for the name I gave to the bokken that Aggro-sensei gave me," Lincoln pointed out while gesturing to the night sky above, "Remember? I ended up naming my bokken Starlit Sky because the night Aggro-sensei gave me my bokken, you looked up into the sky and said how the starlit sky looked beautiful."

The ditzy fashionista nodded in remembrance. "Oh yeah," Leni replied, "Aggro was the one who gave you your fancy wooden sword." Turning to look back into the nighttime sky herself, Leni continued, "Aggro, he…he sure is something, don't you think, Linky?"

The white-haired boy gave a mildly amused 'hmm'. Rolling his shoulders a bit, Lincoln said, "Well I do feel like he's sort of like a big brother to me, similar to how Bobby and I get along. But as far as what you want, you're the one who is going to have to put in the effort to reach that goal, Leni."

"Linky…" Leni said as she turned her head back down and to the side away from Lincoln, sounding a bit upset in a manner that suggested that she wasn't all that confident in herself. The change in his older ex-sister's tone did not escape Lincoln.

"Leni," Lincoln began as she sat down next to his older ex-sister, clearly sounding concerned for how she was feeling, "Are you alright?"

"Linky, I…" Leni began in same tone she was still using, "…I'm not sure if I'm going to, like, be able to get Aggro to like me." Lincoln said nothing, but he was starting to catch onto what his older ex-sister was getting at, starting to understand how exactly she was feeling at the moment. "I mean, look at what happened when I went to the party Chaz had a while ago," Leni said as she started to go on a bit of a tangent, "I lost the first crush that I had! Who's to say that the same, like, won't happen with my second crush?" Starting to tear up, Leni said, "I bet that if it wasn't for the fact that I have a stupid brain that was broken, then none-"

*SLAP*

Everything came to a screeching halt when, to the fashionable Loud sister's surprise, Lincoln had slapped her across the face. It was nothing that the ditzy Loud sibling ever expected out of little Linky, especially so out of the blue like that. However, things started to catch up to Leni when Lincoln put his hands on her shoulders, getting her to focus solely on him.

"Your brain is not broken, Leni," Lincoln said firmly, putting a good bit of emphasis on the 'not broken' part, "It never has been, and it never will be. You have got to stop thinking that." Seeing that Leni still looking rather upset with herself a little upset, Lincoln decided to try out another approach when it came to lifting her spirits. "Leni," the white-haired boy began, with a hint of gentleness seeping into his tone, "If your brain really was broken, then would you know as much about fashion as you currently know right now?"

Leni gently shook her head in the negative, tears starting to well up in the corners of her eyes, as she slowly replied, "…No…"

"And would you also know how to prepare salmon, which is not something that any person just starting out in cooking can do?" Lincoln went on.

"…No…" Leni said once more as teas started to fall down the sides of her face.

"And would you also know how to pick a lock with nothing more than a hairpin?" Lincoln continued, "Or be able to craft an amazingly detailed bedframe? Or being able to trick the owner of a car lot into letting you use one of the cars so you could do a mall run? Or how about having such immaculate penmanship that you're able to write your own name in the grass using the riding lawnmower?"

"I had Lori helping me with tricking the guy into letting me use one of his cars to make a mall run," Leni pointed out in her current self-disappointed tone. Looking down to the floor of the patio with a look of shame, the fashionable Loud sister continued, "And when I spelled my name in the grass, I misspelled it."

Lincoln gently shook his head in response to Leni self-deprecating herself. "That doesn't mean anything," Lincoln retorted, "You did just as much as Lori did when tricking the car lot owner, and the fact that you can write letters in the grass with a riding lawnmower so well is nothing short of impressive." Sighing, the white-haired boy said in a sympathetic tone, "Leni, why do you have so little faith in yourself? Especially when the rest of us have so much faith in you?" Giving Leni a gentle smile as he got her to look up at him, Lincoln said, "You are much better than you think you are. Don't go forgetting that."

"Linky…" Leni said in a touched tone as she gently threw her arms around Lincoln and drew him into a hug. For his part, Lincoln simply gave Leni a gentle pat on her back as she began to cry softly into his left shoulder. They stayed like that for at least a few minutes until Lincoln, remembering that he still held an unopened snack cake, got Leni to let him go. Lincoln and Leni sat on the patio like that for a bit, the white-haired boy continuing to provide comfort and support to the ditzy Loud girl, up until Leni had more or less cried herself out. Once she had calmed back down, Lincoln led Leni back into the house.

Closing and locking the patio door behind them, Lincoln then led Leni up the stairs and over to her and Lori's room. "You try to get some sleep, okay?" Lincoln said, drawing a humble nod in the affirmative from his ditzy ex-sister. "Okay then," Lincoln replied, "Good night, Leni."

"Good night, Linky," Leni said before she headed into her room, closing the door behind her. Seeing as how he needed to get back to bed himself, Lincoln decided to head on over to his bedroom, crawl back into bed, and go back to sleep.

The following day, the three oldest Loud girls made a run to Royal Woods Mall. In a turn that surprised the three of them, Lincoln had asked to accompany them. As it turned out, all of the white-haired boy's friends were busy, and he had nothing going on; Lincoln hoped that by going to the mall, he would be able to burn some time. As the four Loud siblings walked around the mall, they spotted a memorabilia and fashion store that they decided to check out.

While Lori, Leni and Luna were each checking out different areas of the store, Lincoln was browsing a shelf that some accessories related to a popular anime. As Lincoln looked at the merchandise, he heard a somewhat familiar male voice call out, "Hey, you're that white-haired kid from the kendo tournament!" Confused, Lincoln looked over and, to his surprise, he saw Francisco come walking up to him.

He wasn't worried about his athletic sister's former crush, but Lincoln was still on his guard around the thirteen-year-old boy. "…What do you want?" Lincoln asked, his tone bitter with a dash of suspicious.

"Look, here's the deal," Francisco began, sounding like he was going to be completely honest, "I was in no way trying to cheat during the Kendo tournament where the two of us faced each other in the final round, alright?"

"…Really," Lincoln retorted, sounding like Francisco was trying to feed him some manner of fantastical tale made mostly of bullshit.

Sighing in a mildly frustrated tone, Francisco stressed, "I'm being serious here. I was not trying to cheat. Someone must have switched my shinai out while I wasn't looking for the one that got me disqualified when I faced you."

"Pfft, yeah right," Lincoln said, his tone unchanging, "Like you seriously expect me to fall for a spiel like that." Giving Lynn's former crush a firm, serious look, Lincoln said, "What do you take me for, an idiot?"

"I am telling you the truth," Francisco reiterated firmly, "I wasn't trying to cheat."

"I've had enough of this," Lincoln swore as he turned around, proceeding to walk away from the thirteen-year-old boy. However, in a brief flash of anger, Francisco grabbed Lincoln's left shoulder, forcefully turned him around, and then grabbed Lincoln by both shoulders. No one had ever been as forceful as this with Lincoln since before he ran away had had that extended stay over in Great Lakes City. The white-haired boy actually found himself admiring the cojones that Francisco was displaying right now.

"You are not leaving," Francisco replied, trying to leave the white-haired boy without any other options, "Not until you've heard me out and agree with me, at least." However, unbeknownst to Francisco, Lincoln actually had other options. He could do what he did to get multiple people that he ran into so far to back off (glare murderously at the person while exuding his Killing Intent), but that would most likely end with the thirteen-year-old boy crapping and/or pissing himself out of sheer fright in the middle of the mall store that they were in, and that was not a smell that he wanted to deal with. Lincoln could also bust out some of the unarmed fighting skills that he had cultivated on his own back when he still lived alone in Great Lakes City.

"Hey!" Leni said upon seeing her little brother being bothered by a kid that was both slightly older and slightly bigger than him, interrupting Lincoln's thinking in the process. "What do you think you're doing with Linky?" the ditzy Loud sister continued as she proceeded to make her way over to where Lincoln and Francisco were. Upon seeing someone responsible for the kid he was admittedly being forceful with coming his way, the thirteen-year-old boy let go of Lincoln right there and then before turning tail and running away.

"Linky, are you okay?" Leni asked as she got down on one knee to be at Lincoln's level so she could give him a quick look-over.

"A bit rattled," the white-haired boy lied, the casualness of his tone masking the fact that he was lying quite well, "But otherwise I'm fine. Thanks for the save, Leni. I thought that I might have gotten into some serious trouble back there."

"No one's going to hurt you so long as I have anything to say about it," Leni said in a determined tone as she got back up, "Come on, we have to totes meet back up with Lori and Luna." Lincoln said nothing, instead only giving Leni an obedient nod as he followed her over to where Lori and Luna were still browsing some of the merchandise that store in the mall had to offer.

After the four Louds were done with their business at the mall, they left and could then be seen heading towards Vanzilla in the Royal Woods Mall parking lot. "Did you recognize who the kid that tried to harass you?" Lori asked Lincoln as he and Leni told Lori and Luna about what had happened back in the one store.

To say that the white-haired boy held any measure of sympathy for the thirteen-year-old boy would be a complete and total lie. Nodding once in the affirmative, Lincoln said as he looked up at his older ex-sister, "It was Francisco, the guy that I faced in the last round of the first Kendo tournament I took part in." Seeing the growing look of surprised shock on the faces of the three oldest Loud girls, Lincoln said with a wry look, "I believe you know who I'm talking about."

"That little turd?!" Luna practically exclaimed, "It was bogus enough that he had to go and rip Lynn's heart out, throw it to the ground as hard as he could, then grind it into the ground under the heel of one of his feet. But now he had the nerve to go and harass you in one of the stores in the mall?!" Pounding a fist into her hand, the musically inclined Loud sister growled in a rather threatening tone, "If Lynn doesn't get to that fucking little shit first, then my Gibson is going to be introduced to his neck."

Putting a hand on her younger sister's right shoulder to get her to calm down, Lori said when Luna focused on her, "As justified as that sounds, none of us will be going after that little twerp. We will inform the right authorities about what Francisco tried to do, then let them take things from there." With a roll of her shoulders, Lori said, "Anyway, Luna, come on. You, me, Leni and Lincoln all literally have to get going."

"Oh, speaking of Linky," Leni said as she turned around, prompting the group as a whole to stop in their tracks, "I found something I bet he'll totes love!" Reaching into one of the shopping bags she was carrying, Leni fished around for a bit before she pulled out a small black rectangular box that had a clear plastic circle showing what was inside; a gold ring with some sort of elaborate writing along the edge, and the ring was on a silver chain. "It's a replica of that magic ring from those movies that Linky and his friends like so much," Leni explained to the group as a whole as she handed the gift to Lincoln, "And he does need to accessorize more."

"Oh yeah," Lori began to remark, "Lincoln likes watching those movies." With a sideways glance, Lori added, "I'd be lying if I didn't admit to liking those movies myself."

Looking at the fantasy movie-related accessory his older sister got him, the white-haired boy was surprised. Lincoln actually sort-of always wanted a real-life version of this ring, minus all of the evil powers that it had, of course. And now, thanks to Leni, he got such a ring. "Wow, Leni," Lincoln said at length, "Thanks. This…this is actually rather surprising." Looking back up to Leni, Lincoln said, "I'll, umm, try getting this out of the box later. Until then, can you put it back into the bag that you got it out of? I don't have a bag myself that I can carry it in."

Nodding in an understanding manner, Leni replied as she received the box back from Lincoln, "Sure thing, Linky." Leni then put the small box back into the bag that she got it out of. Once that was done, the girls and Lincoln went back to heading over to Vanzilla so that they can leave the mall and head back to their family's residence.

To say that things were boring at the Loud residence when Lincoln and the three oldest Loud sisters returned from their trip to the mall would be, similar to a previous statement, a complete and total lie. Lori, Leni and Luna wasted no time in telling the rest of the Loud girls about the encounter that Lincoln had in one of the stores that they went to, and who it was that the white-haired boy had encountered. Lori actually had to physically restrain Lynn, who suddenly said that she had to get up and go retrieve one of her hockey sticks.

A plan of action was formed, and once the first part was carried out, the Loud sisters felt satisfied that Francisco would be dealt with in a swift, decisive and responsible manner. Well, most of the Loud girls felt satisfied; Lynn still had a desire to go and get that hockey stick of hers. And Luna was still feeling like giving Francisco a very up close and personal look at her electric guitar. But still, such actions were kept back, with Lori leading the helm on reigning things in.

Things eventually settled down, and the Loud girls and Lincoln eventually milled about the place, going off to do whatever it was that they wanted to do. For Lori and Leni's parts, they both stayed in their room, laying on their respective beds, with Lori using her smartphone while Leni was flipping through some manner of magazine. Their reprieve was interrupted by a gentle knocking at their door, to which Lori called out for whoever it was to enter. As such, Lincoln opened the door to greet his older ex-sisters, wearing the silver chain necklace with the gold ring that Leni had gotten him around his neck.

"Aww, you're wearing the thing that I got for you!" Leni said upon noticing what her little brother was wearing around his neck.

Nodding once in an appreciative manner, Lincoln said, "Yeah, and that's actually part of the reason why I came here. I wanted to say thanks again for getting me this, not to mention the fact that it was you who got Francisco to back off back at the mall."

"Well it wasn't like I was going to, like, let that little creep get away with doing anything to you," the fashionable Loud sister replied, sounding more sure of herself than she did when she had her heart-to-heart talk with Lincoln the previous night on the patio in the backyard.

The white-haired boy nodded in agreement with what Leni said; any older sibling, after all, would not simply stand by while they see one of their younger siblings being harassed by some random harasser. "Well this has been a nice talk, sis," Lincoln said, "But I did promise Lola that I would help her with some routine she wants to try out at the next pageant she enters." Turning around, Lincoln said as he waved a hand, "See you later."

"See you later, Linky," Leni replied as Lincoln took his leave, closing the door behind him. After Lincoln was gone, Leni said as she went back to reading her magazine, "He really is such a sweet kid, don't you think, Lori?" As she turned a page in the magazine that she was reading, the fashionable loud sister noticed that Lori had a look of mildly shocked surprise on her face. Lowering her magazine back down a bit as she turned her head to face Lori, Leni said in a mildly confused tone, "…Lori? Are you, like, okay?"

"Did you literally not hear what Lincoln just called you?" Lori replied.

…

After having left Lori and Leni's room, Lincoln was heading straight for the dining room, where Lola was setting up her thing for the pageant practice she wanted to do. However, just as he was about to reach the stairs, Lincoln stopped when he heard one of the bedroom doors behind him open suddenly. About one second later, Leni came running up to Lincoln and picked him up into another hug, spinning around in place while laughing out of relief. As he was being spun around and hugged, Lincoln's expression morphed into a deadpan one.

But one that had a small smile, one that was knowing and mildly amused.

END, RESTORED IMAGE: A TALE RETOLD CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Author's note:

Aaaaaaannnnd there we go. Everyone's favorite white-haired eleven-year-old boy has reconciled with six out of twelve of the people who had screwed him over big time. And hey, it only took twenty-three chapters to reach that point! I think that's really good progress! …All joking aside, this really is a significant point in Lincoln's efforts. There's no way of telling at this point how long it will take for Lincoln to reconcile with the whole of the Louds.

However, I do have a few things in mind for some of them. I still have to do the chapter where Lily's feelings on the ongoing matter are explored (that's something that I've been wanting to do), as well as what to do for when Lana attempts to rebuild the bridge between her and her older brother, a task that I believe will be tougher than the tomboyish twin will think, given how things have turned out here thus far.

So yeah, this story will be going on for quite some time, especially since I'm not done exploring the inner workings of Lincoln's mind in depth since he came back from his extended stay over in Great Lakes City. Not only is there that to deal with, but there's a certain red-haired boy that we are all very much familiar with, and he still has a few adventures to go through before I can draw things to a close here. So with that being said, I'll be seeing you all next time.