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-four: The Chandler tales, part four

Chandler McCann, alongside his friends Sid, Frank, Trent and Richie, were all sitting on the floor in the living room of a notably well-furnished estate. The fireplace had a roaring fire going, the bookshelves were lined with numerous, classic-looking books, and there was even a red parlour chair, which Chandler and his friends were sitting in front of. There was a matching foot rest in front of the chair, and a table to the right (if you're sitting in the chair). Who it was that was sitting in the parlour chair, however, would take one by surprise.

It was a large raven, at least as big as a grown human man. The whole of it was black, save for its red, piercing eyes. It wore a red robe that was drawn closed, so only the raven's head, the ends of its black wings, and its legs and feet (which were also black), could be seen. There was a little red fez on its head, and with the end of its right wing, which for some reason was acting as a hand, it held a gold-colored goblet. The red-haired boy and his friends sat on the floor as they looked up at the humanoid raven, its feet resting on the foot rest.

"And so the boy, scorned by the petty excuses of family members that he had, was stuck in the middle of a great moral quagmire," the raven said as he spoke with a sophisticated man's voice, turning his head from left to right every so often, "But do not cry for him." Chandler and his friends all recoiled a bit when the giant talking raven suddenly shouted "DO NOT CRY!" Going back to speaking regularly, the talking raven continued, "And what of the Latino girl who had found her heart stolen by the boy? …Who cares? She bores the piss out of me."

Chandler and his friends chuckled a bit after hearing the giant talking raven say that last bit. "The boy's journey had barely begun," the talking raven continued, "As he was currently discovering for himself. Even though he had found half of what he was looking for, a half-completed list is still incomplete. Will the boy ever reach the end of his journey? Will he ever find the entirety of what he seeks? Why do you even care? You never cared about Sir Corviknight before, have you? No one ever cares about Sir Corviknight!"

Suddenly, the giant talking raven lifts his wings up, and for some odd reason, root beer shoots out of his armpits (wingpits?) at high speeds, sending Chandler and his friends running as they screamed in alarm, while the root beer shooting out at high speeds got everywhere, making a rather big mess in the process. The red-haired boy and his friends all got out of the room before it filled entirely with root beer.

…

Chandler woke up with a start in his bed. Looking around, he saw that he was in his bedroom, and that it was dark. Taking a look at the old-fashioned digital nightstand clock on his nightstand next to his bed, Chandler saw that it was around two-thirty-two in the morning. The red-haired boy's attention was drawn to his computer, the monitor of which was still on and shining; he had been so tired that he forgot to turn his computer off.

Holding a hand to the side of his head, Chandler gently shook his head as he recalled the rather bizarre dream that he had just woken up from. "…That's the last time I mix watching Direct videos and random video clips on the internet before I go to bed," Chandler muttered to himself before he flumped back over, laying down on his bed. It wasn't very long before he found that he had slipped back off into the realm of sleep.

Around six or so hours after waking up from a bizarre dream, Chandler found himself hanging out at the local park with his friends Frank and Richie. "…Yeah, man," Richie remarked to the red-haired boy, "Staying up late while watching a weird selection of videos on the internet before finally going to bed in not the best mix of things in the world. You going to be okay, though?"

"Yeah, Richie," Chandler replied, "It's no biggie. Besides, there's too much for me to focus on to allow myself time to dwell on surreal dreams I had during the night."

Both Frank and Richie, who were loyal friends to Chandler and would help him with whatever, sticking by his side through thick and thin, nodded in agreement and understanding. "What do you have in mind to pull on Francisco today?" Frank asked.

Chandler was about to speak up when he heard a familiar female voice call out, prompting him, as well as Frank and Richie, to turn around and look. As such, the three boys all saw Kara, the thirteen-year-old cousin of Chandler, come dashing up to them, a mildly rattled look on her face. Seeing the thirteen-year-old girl look so worried caught the three boys by surprise, especially so for Chandler.

"…Hey, Kara," the red-haired boy began in a mildly curious, mildly concerned tone as he gestured to the young teen girl, "Why did you come running over to us like your underwear had caught on fire, or something?" After Kara had caught a bit of her breath, she began speaking to her younger cousin and his friends as such a speed that Chandler had to interrupt her. "Hey, hey, hey," Chandler said as he cut Kara off, "Can you repeat all of that, but speak slower?"

Sighing, Kara said, "Sorry, cous. I guess that I was so freaked by one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about that I guess I went a mile a minute."

"Hang on," Richie said, getting the thirteen-year-old girl to turn and face him, "There's more than one thing going on?"

"There's technically two things," Kara proceeded to explain, "One of which relates to that guy who Chandler is messing with so that the guy's dad looks bad by proxy, thus upping Chandler's dad's chances of landing that promotion at work."

Chandler's interest was piqued. "So something's up with Francisco, eh?" the red-haired boy said, an amused look on his face, "What's going on?"

Taking another breath, Kara said, "I heard that he almost got arrested over some incident that very recently happened at the Royal Woods Mall. From what I was able to gather on the matter, he tried harassing a kid around your age, but he had not only failed to even intimidate the kid in question, but ended up having to run away when the kid's older sister started coming up."

Chandler, as well as his two friends, all let out some amused laughter. "Hoo boy," Chandler laughed in amusement, "Here's hoping the big boss at dad's work hears about this! It'll certainly go a long way to making dad look better than Francisco's dad by proxy."

"What's the second thing you wanted to tell us about, Kara?" Frank asked as he turned to face Chandler's older cousin. Remembering that Kara said that she had two things that she wanted to tell them about, Chandler and Richie both turned to face the thirteen-year-old girl, curious looks of expectance on their respective faces. With all eyes on her, Kara sighed in a resigned tone as she began to explain to her cousin and his friends about what she had heard.

It didn't take Kara too long to find a reliable source that she could show to Chandler and his friends; since the riot that broke out at a Hispanic Heritage Month festival over in Great Lakes City is still a leading subject in current news, all the thirteen-year-old girl had to do was lead the boys back to the McCann residence, lead them into the living room, turn on the TV and search the channels until she found a news channel that provided up-to-date information.

"…There have been at least fifteen casualties and over thirty-seven injuries," a news reporter said as she reported live from the scene of what looked to be a festival that was ruined when a really big and violent fight broke out, "Witnesses confirmed that the rioters that attacked the festival were composed of races that hold Great Lakes City's Hispanic population accountable for all of the city's problems, which range from lack of housing, occasional shortages of food in the stores, and so-on."

Chandler, his friends and Kara were shocked by what they were seeing on the news as they continued to watch. "Although most of the victims of the riot were Hispanic, a fair number were from other racial groups," the news reporter went on, "This includes an Asian man and his mixed-race twelve-year-old daughter, who are among the victims that were killed. Additionally, two students, one black and one white, from Great Lakes City University, were killed while they were trying to save one of their professors from rioters, ultimately being successful in their efforts. The dean of the University says that she will look into posthumously grant both of the slain students honorary degrees for their heroism."

The news then shifted back to the studio, where the news anchor nodded in acknowledgement to the field reporter. "Thank you, Pamela," the news anchor said. To the viewers who were at home watching the news, the news anchor said, "We'll bring you viewers at home more news on the riot that happened in Great Lakes City as said news develops." When the news proceeded to shift to giving a forecast for the weather for the next couple of days, Kara lowered the volume until it was practically muted.

Turning to face the boys, Kara said, "I actually didn't hear about the riot that went on over in Great Lakes City until Ronnie Anne Santiago told me about it."

"Wait a minute," Chandler said, a confused look on his face, "How would the Queen of Pain even hear about that riot? She doesn't look like someone who would pay attention to the news, from what I can tell."

Pointing to the TV, the thirteen-year-old girl said to the boys, "That university professor who was saved by two of his students is actually Ronnie Anne's uncle." Seeing the surprised looks of shock on the respective faces of the boys, Kara nodded once in acknowledgement, knowing that she had their attention. "Yeah, you can't really blame a girl for knowing about her uncle almost getting killed in a riot," Kara added, "It's still got her worked up into a tizzy."

Kara was also told about how two other members of Ronnie Anne's extended family were also at the festival when the riot broke out, but were nowhere nearly as lucky as Ronnie Anne's uncle. But the thirteen-year-old girl figured that Chandler and his friends didn't need to know about that little tidbit of info. "From what I heard on the matter," Kara said, "The Santiagos are going to go over to Great Lakes City, so as to visit Ronnie Anne's uncle at the hospital." Kara was also not going to tell Chandler and his friends that the Santiagos had to attend a funeral for two members of their extended family as well.

"…Guys," Chandler said after a few seconds of consideration, turning to face Frank and Richie, "Remember how I told you guys, as well as Sid and Trent, that the lot of us are to keep away from Ronnie Anne because she could throttle the lot of us? Yeah, I'm going to have to insist on that again. Doing anything to get on Miss Purple Pain's nerves, especially right now, would be tantamount to suicide."

Both of Chandler's friends that were present nodded in agreement with their red-haired friend. "You don't need to tell me twice," Frank remarked, "Besides which, we've got more important things going on, so it would be best to focus on that." Both Chandler and Richie nodded along with what their well-fed friend said.

Kara, with a bit of amusement in her expression, saw that the boys, in their own way, expressed how they were going to refrain from bothering Ronnie Anne when the Hispanic tomboy's family, immediate and extended, were going through tragic times. It made her feel confident that those who still claimed that the red-haired boy was without any redeeming qualities whatsoever were very much full of themselves.

The following day, Chandler was walking along on the sidewalk in the residential area of Royal Woods, making his way over to a small park/playground to wait for Frank and Trent to show up, as the three boys agreed ahead of time to meet up with each other at said park. As the red-haired boy made his way, however, he had the mild misfortune to bump into Francisco, the very young teen that he was actively screwing with.

Upon recognizing Chandler, Francisco's expression morphed into something of a scowl. "What the hell are you doing here," the thirteen-year-old boy scoffed bitterly, "You little turd?"

"Hey, I was just on my way to the nearby park," Chandler explained, hoping to avoid getting into any sort of confrontation with the older and more physically imposing boy. If things ended up coming to a one-on-one bout between him and Francisco, then the red-haired boy had no doubt that he would have his rear handed to him on a silver platter.

Francisco, thinking about similar things to what Chandler was thinking about, knew that he would have an advantage in such a bout. He also had some vague idea that the red-haired boy in front of him had at least some part in all of the crap that he (Francisco) has been forced to go through over the last few days. Figuring that this was the perfect opportunity to get a little bit of revenge, the thirteen-year-old boy grabbed Chandler's shirt collar with his left hand as he pulled his right fist back.

"Oh, I am going to enjoy this one," Francisco said to Chandler in a threatening tone. However, the thirteen-year-old boy was cut off when he heard someone shout.

"Oi! Leave that kid alone!" an older, serious male voice called out, sounding like it belonged to a boy in his late teens. Looking over, Francisco saw someone run up to him and Chandler. Given that he was barely able to avoid trouble the last time it reared its ugly head near him, Francisco let go of Chandler and took off running before the older male teen had caught up.

Looking up, Chandler saw, to his mild surprise, that he was saved by Aggro Ace, the older brother of Astrid, the cutest girl at Royal Woods Elementary School (at least as far as Chandler was concerned). Granted, the red-haired boy had to put pursuing Astrid on the backburner for the time being, with Aggro having somewhat of a role in that, but when Chandler had the time, he was intending to go back to trying to win the white-haired girl's affections. But that was beside the point. For now, Chandler turned to properly face his rescuer.

"Thanks for the save, Aggro," Chandler said to the male Ace twin, "I thought that older kid was going to throttle me."

Looking off in the direction that Francisco had taken off in, Aggro said, "That boy who just took off…he isn't the best of kids here in Royal Woods. Especially after what I had observed back during the Kendo tournament that Lincoln-kun won, as well as what Leni-chan and her sisters have told me on the matter." Looking down at Chandler, Aggro said, "Can I count on you to give me a shout out the next time that boy tries anything?"

Chandler, unable to properly think of anything decent to say, merely nodded a few times in the affirmative. With a bit of a relieved smile, Aggro said, "Good. Thanks for the assist, Chandler." With a curious look on his face, the male Ace twin added, "By the way, Chandler, what are you up to right now?"

Pointing in the direction of the park he was going to meet Frank and Trent at, the red-haired boy explained, "I was just going to meet some of my friends over at the nearby park."

"Very well, then," Aggro replied, satisfied with Chandler's answer. Turning around, Aggro proceeded to take his leave from that area. However, he stopped short, turned back around and faced Chandler. "…Thanks for respecting Astrid as you have been doing thus far, Chandler," Aggro said to the red-haired boy, before turning back around and taking his leave for real.

Alone in that part of the neighborhood, Chandler decided to turn back around and proceed to make his way over to the park, like he had been doing before he was caught up by Francisco and, to a lesser extent, Aggro. Granted, the red-haired boy didn't like how he had to keep away from the cutest girl at RWES, but due to his ongoing scheme to ultimately have his dad look better than Francisco's dad at the sewage treatment plant so that his (Chandler's) dad will get that big promotion, Chandler knew that he had to prioritize.

…Aggro had no idea that he was more or less forcing Chandler to prioritize making life for Francisco as difficult as possible.

The following day, Chandler, with all four of his friends, were hanging around in the McCann family backyard. "…I heard that the Santiagos have left to go visit Great Lakes City today," Sid said to the other boys. With a shrug, the red hoodie-wearing boy continued, "It probably has to do with what Chandler's older cousin told us a short while ago, about how Ronnie Anne's uncle was almost killed in that one riot at that festival."

"I also saw Ronnie Anne's older brother at a clothing store earlier," Trent remarked, "Looking at black clothing for himself." With a curious look on his face, Trent said, "You guys don't think that Ronnie Anne's uncle died, do you?"

"I don't know, Trent," Chandler remarked, "I mean, if it comes down to it, we can probably find out from Lincoln since he and the Queen of Pain seem so close." The other boys all nodded in agreement with their red-haired friend. Clapping his hands together, Chandler said, "Anyway, boys, we ought to put other stuff like that on the backburner for the time being. For now, we've got to discuss the next part in making Francisco look bad so that his dad looks bad by proxy."

Sid, Frank, Trent and Richie all nodded in agreement as they huddled up closer to Chandler, wanting to hear the next part of his ultimate plans.

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

Author's notes:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know this is a short chapter. I also know that I'm incorporating parts from 'Broken Mirror: New War'. The reason for that second part is that 'BM: NW' came out and was finished after this story. As such, it has a bit of material that can be incorporated into the setting of this tale to help with world building. The attack on the festival will be cropping up a few times, mostly to help fill things out as they come. As for the first part, I…honestly couldn't come up with all that much. I just wanted to shake things up a bit, and give focus on lesser things that go on in the background.

And if you guys are wondering what the exact purpose of that dream Chandler had at the beginning of the chapter was, it has multiple reasons for being there, mainly to give the idea that Chandler may have some limited idea of what's going on with Lincoln. Anyway, I've already got an idea on what to do for the next two chapters. One will involve one of the sisters that Lincoln has reconciled with as she ponders if she really deserved to be forgiven, and the other one will involve one of the sisters who has yet to prove herself going about trying to prove herself. I have no clue which one of those two to do first.