Lying down in her lower bunk bed, Luan stared at the bottom of her roommate bed, trying her best to distract her mind from whatever stupid mess she had gotten herself into. It was only the beginning of the day but she already can't think of it actually getting any better. Ever since yesterday, after the conversation she had with jock Linc, she kept getting flustered at even the single thought of him. Of his kindness, of his bright smile, of the way he moves as if he was cheerfully dancing. Everything about him was stuck in her mind in great details. His soft voice calming her down, his adoring gaze lighting up at her bad pun, his musical laughter ringing in her ears like a song she had almost forgotten.

God, why does it need to be so hard. Why does it need to be so hard for her to remember any other smile but his. Why was his smile so special, why did it need to bother her this much. It doesn't make sense. Nothing about this make sense.

But she can't say it was unexpected considering the type of shenanigans their family had gotten into in their life. That's the benefit of having a big family she guessed. There was never a moment a quiet with how many things are happening. Just like at the moment.

Who would have though her brother would be separated into four new different individuals because of an explosion.

And who would have thought that each of them would be quite a handful to deal with either.

He can't even deal with jock Linc, how was she supposed to face the rest of them, of him, of her brother.

She understands that each of his counterparts are different in their own respective ways, but they are still her brother, all of them. It doesn't change anything.

It... it wasn't supposed to...

Then why did she have to make a big deal out of this. Why can't she deal with them like she had always dealt with her brother. Was she afraid? Of her own brother, of course not. Lincoln can't even hurt an ant, how was he even supposed to be scary to her. She just can't see her brother like that. Or in some sort of way she refused to see him like that.

Groaning to herself, Luan turned to her side, her tired eyes landed on her wooden puppet, Mr Coconut sitting on the nightstand, the black beady pupils staring back at her.

"What's the matter with you toots, you're barely moving and I'm the one made with woods." Mr Coconut asked.

"It's nothing, just tired you know." Luan replied.

"Come on squirt, do you really need to do this to yourself." The puppet said.

Luan let out a sigh and lowered her gaze before hugging a pillow into her chest. "I... I don't want to talk about it."

"We've been together for a long time squirt, You know you can share your problem with your ol' pal." Mr Coconut assured her. "So what's been munching on you, it can't be worse than these termites."

Luan looked at the puppet for a moment then returned to her pillow, bringing it closer into her chest. "It's about Lincoln."

"That little squirt? What did he do this time, I oughta teach him some lesson one of these days, no one messes with my wooden style technique without getting chopped."

"No Mr Coconut, it's nothing like that." Luan groaned.

"Then what is it toots?" The puppet inquired further.

"It's embarrassing alright." The teen girl whispered.

"More embarrassing than that one time where you secretly took a video of him exercising without a shirt." The puppet asked.

"Ugh, you're only making it worse Mr Coconut." Luan pouted.

"Alright, no more playing around, what is it kid?" The puppet seriously asked.

"I... I can't stop thinking about him, of the look in his eyes, of his smile, of his voice, everything about him is bothering me since what happened yesterday." Luan confessed.

"I don't know what I should do anymore, if I can even do anything." Luan tightened her embrace around the pillow. "I don't think I can face him with me being like this right now."

"Squirt, I would've knocked some sense into your head if I can. You're overthinking stuff kid, mixing some confusion with no particular reason to back them up."

"As I see it, there's nothing wrong with that, you just liked that about your brother, seriously why are you so hung up over this." Mr Coconut groaned.

"Honestly kid, you have always liked that part about him. It was just now that you remember how much you missed it."

"But you already know that do you..."

"That's what you're afraid of..."

"That's why I don't want to think about it." Luan told herself.

The day went on as normal as it could be, that is with the new addition in the Loud house. Though it was surprisingly much quieter than how the family would usually be considering their reputation in the neighborhood, especially now with the increasing numbers of the occupants living in there. But that should already be expected with the strange condition the house had fallen into.

Lori and Luan spent most of their day in their rooms, one recovering from the shock she went through against goth Linc while the latter refusing to accept her own conflicted mind and feeling over jock Linc.

With Lori out of the picture, Leni was left with the task to take care of both Lily and lazy Linc along the day considering how unexpected and unreliable the exhausted boy was with how often he fell asleep in a dangerous position that could harm himself.

Luna continued her date with Sam until they both eventually parted ways for the night, though her mind was still stuck with the thought of the performance she had received from goth Linc.

Lynn finally got what she wanted, what she had been dreaming of her entire life. It was no longer something she can only entertain but a reality of her own. The day felt much shorter for her with how much fun she had spending time with the boy who accepted her heart. She was far beyond happy, and jock Linc would do and give anything for her.

Lucy did search for goth Linc in the midst of the chaos, though only to find nothing at the end of her day. Her goth brother was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't in the house nor was he anywhere in the town. Like the shadow receding into the night, his existence was completely gone until he decided to appear again much to her disappointment. She was really hoping to spend more time with this unknown side of her brother, to learn more about him, about the boy she called her brother.

Lola and Lana spent their day like usual. To them nothing was ever wrong. After all it was just another day living in the aftermath of their younger sister's many mistake. Though it wouldn't take a genius either for them to notice the drastic changes happening in the house, the thick and intense silence lingering in the air. It was horrible, and it was even more horrible since they don't know the reason behind it.

Lisa still refused to get out from the small room that belong to her brother unless she really needed to. And it was even far in between for her to interact with smart Linc, the one who she should be cooperating with to fix their current situation. She just can't see it in herself to be anywhere close to him. To the person who ruined everything for her.

As for smart Linc, he did his best to fix everything, to hide everything, to reject everything. He did what he do best, what Lincoln Loud do best, he planned his way through everything, connecting each and every possibilities into a single acceptable path he will take to be the brother they needed. The brother Lisa can look at without contempt.

The day was both long and short in a strange way, some hoping for it to end quicker while few other wishing for it to last forever. In the end, the house was filled to the brim with the intense atmosphere each of the residents carried along the day.

And it would only take a simple wrong confrontation to trigger it...

Dinner was quiet... Far quieter than what Leni was comfortable with. Sitting between Lily and lazy Linc, her concerned eyes would occasionally passed by each of her sisters and brothers currently sitting at the table, each of them telling their own stories. Each and every of their gestures carrying the weight of their days, of what they had went through, of a family foreign to her. Everything about this is wrong. Even Lola and Lana were affected by the heavy silence in the air with how uncomfortable they were picking at their foods.

Goth Linc was still nowhere to be seen, but none of his counterparts seemed to care about his absence. Or they probably don't find it urgent enough to interfere.

Taking a deep breath, Leni placed her fork down and anxiously clasped her hands on her lap. "D-did anyone know where goth Linc is?" She asked with a strained smile, her voice slightly cracking.

"I guess none of you have seen him either huh, I've been looking for him the entire day, and I got nothing." Luna noted. "He just disappeared after the sick show he did at the Red Roses Cafe." Luna said as Lucy looked at her with interest.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Lucy curiously asked.

"I should've recorded it dudette, it was amazing, he got the whole cafe cheering for him like crazy for an encore." Luna replied, smiling while thinking back of his out of the world performance.

"Just let him be." Lori sternly interjected. "He will show up if he wanted to." She bluntly added, not at all bothered by the weird and confused look Luna and Lucy was giving her.

"Shouldn't we be looking for him or something?" Luna worriedly asked, the memory of what happened between Lori and goth Linc still clear in her mind. Though it did little to change her mind regarding the absence of the goth white haired boy "It's getting late you know, what if something bad happened to him."

"So what?"

The whole table went quiet. Smart Linc stole a tired glance at the oldest sister and let out a sigh as jock Linc finally looked away from Lynn who was holding his hand under the table. Lazy Linc like usual had already fallen asleep on the table as Lily was obliviously munching on her food with a pair of noise cancelling buds already placed in her ears.

It is probably for the better anyway...

"What do you mean 'so what' aren't you worried about him?" Luna asked, a sliver of anger in her voice.

"I literally couldn't care less where that twerp is." Lori annoyedly said. "He's not an idiot, he will come back if he wanted to."

"What's the matter with you Lori!?" Luna stood up and slammed her palms on the table, startling most of the sisters.

"C-calm down Luna." Leni tried to reason with her. "I-I'm sure Lori didn't mean it that way."

"He's a kid Lori, how can you not care about him." Luna narrowed her eyes into a deep glare at the oldest sister still ignoring her protest.

Smart Linc crossed her arms and leaned back into his seat, his half lidded eyes watching the scene unfolding with disinterest, finding it more irritating than an alarm to their situation. While he stared at them his mind was still busy figuring out their entire situation finally being exposed and laid out Infront of him. Now he just need to wait for the pieces to be put together.

"Is he?" Lori retorted, finally looking up from her food to see the brown haired girl still glaring at her. "Do you really think he is a just a kid Luna?"

"Of course, it's our responsible to look after him, especially now with of his current condition." Luna argued.

"Why is it so hard for you to understand Luna, he is not Lincoln! He don't need us!" Lori shouted, scaring both Lola and Lana who almost jumped in their seats.

As if by instinct, jock Linc instantly went to their sides, shocking Lynn who didn't even realized her brother letting go of her hand with how fast he was moving.

"Come on you two, why don't we go upstairs," He softly said while smiling at them, though there was also a sliver of hesitation in his eyes. He wanted to be there, but what he wanted wasn't what they needed at the moment. Sighing in defeat, he looked at smart Linc as his counterpart simply responded with a nod for him to be excused.

Smart Linc also signalled for him to carry Lily with them which he gladly obliged. As much as he hated to see it, he need to trust smart Linc to deal with the situation.

After all that was why he even existed in the first place...

And he pitied him for that same reason.

With that out of the way, jock Linc picked Lily up from her high chair and accompanied the twins upstairs, leaving the table with most of the sisters who were heavily involved in the entire situation.

"You can leave Leni, you don't want to be here for this." Lori suggested, her sharp glare still directed towards Luna.

Lowering her head, Leni tried to stand up and leave like Lori ordered only to sit back down when she felt a hand grabbing onto her wrist, pulling her back to her seat. When she looked to the side, her eyes slightly widened to see lazy Linc was still holding onto her while sleeping.

"I supposed we can start now, if you don't mind let's just get this over with already, I still have some business to attend to." Smart Linc pointed out.

"Shut it smart Linc!" Lori warned.

"Hey, don't shout at him like that, he has nothing to do with this!" Luna barked back.

"It's fine Luna, please continue." Smart Linc simply replied.

"You can literally see it for yourself Luna, none of them are Lincoln, they don't need us." Lori argued while gritting her teeth. "Would Lincoln really act and talk like him, have you ever see him being like this before!?" She pointed at smart Linc.

"Even if we have never seen him being like this before doesn't mean we should think any differently of him, he is still Lincoln, he is still our brother!" Luna banged her fist on the table.

"Luna's right Lori, he is still Lincoln in the end." Luan hesitantly agreed.

"I don't want to hear that from someone who did nothing but stayed in her room all day." Lori retorted as Luan instantly looked away from the oldest sister.

"What the heck is wrong with you dude, why do you need to be like this, what did they even do to you?" Luna demanded.

"Everything!!!" Lori raised her voice. "Everything about them are wrong, they are not Lincoln and that is literally the biggest problem here, why can't you just fucking see it already." Lori frustratedly growled.

"Huh, you finally decided to swear I see, can't say I didn't see that coming." All of the sisters almost screamed in shock when goth Linc spoke from one of the seat at the dining table, casually eating his dinner.

"So what do you think smart Linc, is this enough for you or what?" Goth Linc asked with an unnerving smile, pointing the fork at his indifferent counterpart taking the situation in.

Sighing, smart Linc lowered his head, casting a cold shadow looming over his forehead and covering his bored eyes.

"You may proceed."

And just like that, the smile on goth Linc's face grew even more. Who knew pain could be so delightful.

"Finally, you don't know how long I've been waiting to do this." Goth Linc moaned in relief before looking at the oldest sister now giving her attention towards him.

"You're right Lori, I'm not your Lincoln, I'm not your brother, I will never be the Lincoln you wanted me to be. I despised him, I hated how weak he was, how pathetic your brother can be." Goth Linc clearly said with venom laced in his sharp voice.

"Your brother is a FUCKING joke." He added with a twisted grin, shocking all of the sisters except for Lori who was even more infuriated by the imposter claiming to be her brother. The monster wearing her brother's face and spouting cruel lies with his voice.

"You're NOTHING like him and you will never be." Lori seethed in anger.

"Then kill me Lori." Goth Linc suddenly said, shocking the girls when he placed a kitchen knife on the table. "Just say it and I will even do it for you." He expertly raised the knife to his neck, almost slicing his own throat with how close they were. "I know how much you don't want to dirty your own hands with this tainted blood of mine." And the smile still didn't disappear from his face even a bit. His eyes were filled with nothing but the clear intent to prove his point, not even fear as his hand steadily handled the knife at a beautiful precision.

"Goth Linc wait-" Luna hesitantly tried to reason with him, only to have her low and meek voice drowned by the suffocating weight of the situation. Even a simple wrong move from her can make everything much more worse.

"Isn't this what you wanted Lori, just give me the word and this disgusting imposter you call your brother can disappear from your life." The white haired goth stared at the shocked teen still struggling to comprehend the situation she was currently facing. Her blue eyes were wide open as her mouth was slightly hanging in confliction, her mind shouting at her to do something, to do anything.

"After all I'm not your Lincoln right?" He almost drew blood from the laceration slicing into his skin when a small pale hand quickly grabbed the edge of the knife and threw it away, also hurting herself in the way.

"Sigh, that's hurt more than I thought." Lucy said while looking at the cut in her palm slowly starting to bleed.

"Lucy!" Both Leni and Lynn screamed in concern as the latter quickly stood up and went to check on her roommate injury.

"You've always been the nicer one don't you Lucy." Goth Linc couldn't help but sighed in resignation. "You don't need to do that you know."

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Lynn shouted, her brown eyes glaring at the goth white haired boy practically ignoring her existence. Frustrated, she instantly stood up and grabbed him by the front of his black shirt. "Do you think this is funny, Lucy's hurt because of you damn it." She snarled.

"I didn't ask her to do it." Goth Linc simply replied.

"Lynn, wait." Lucy tried to stop her roommate only to have her word fell on deaf ears, but that wasn't really a surprise for her.

Even after everything that happened, smart Linc was still calmly watching them from his seat, not at all bothered by anything that has transpired, not even the blood of his younger sister now dripping to the floor, painting it red with each drop. Instead his eyes were trained on Lisa watching and struggling to move from her seat, her hesitation to tend her injured elder sister. And most of all, he saw a helpless little girl cowering in fear while forcing herself to not look away.

"Everyone... Please... Stop..." Leni desperately muttered under her breath, it was starting to get harder for her to breathe with all the stuff that was happening at once. She... She don't know what she should do, if there is even anything she can do to begin with. And lazy Linc was still holding onto her wrist, restricting her from doing anything more than just to watch everything getting worse with each passing seconds.

What... What is happening? How did it get like this?

How did her family end up like this?

"Let him go Lynn." Luna said while slowly walking towards them.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, how can you just do something stupid like that, don't you think about your sisters, about us?" Lynn shoved his back against a wall as Luna winced at how rough she was handling the white haired goth.

Though it did little to intimidate him, in fact it probably do the opposite as goth Linc finally gave her the attention she desperately wanted. The corner of his lips curved up into an emotionless and sharp smile as his blank eyes filled with the shadow of his cold heart leaking out like ink.

And goth Linc laughed, he laughed Infront of the upset and confused sister demanding for any sign of sanity from him, for a reason behind his sickly and twisted demeanor.

"That's rich coming from you." He said with a wide smile plastered on his face. "That's rich coming from someone who want to fuck their own brother so badly, it's pathetic." And just like that, the atmosphere in the room instantly dropped. The direction of the conversation taking another fall into the deep unknown.

Silence filled the air as none of them move from the shock, still struggling to accept what they just heard. Among all Lori was the one who was taking it the hardest, still watching goth Linc and Lynn with her eyes wide open in disbelief.

"Do you really think I won't notice." Goth Linc said with a smile as Lynn tightly gritted her teeth. "The way you look at your brother with that lust in your eyes, the way you desperately wanted him to touch you, the way your cheeks turned a shade darker whenever he did something nice for you."

"It was fucking pathetic." He laughed, not at all bothered by the tears now trailing down her freckled cheeks.

"Stop it..." Lynn pleaded.

"What?... Excuse me I didn't hear you, you want me to say more?" Goth Linc mocked.

"Please... Just stop..." She begged.

"Why?... Don't you see everyone here wanted to know more. You must be happy right, after all these years you finally got what you wanted, you finally got your sick pleasure granted to you. But you need to know one thing..." Goth Linc slowly leaned closer to her ear.

"He is not Lincoln." He whispered.

With a painful scream, Lynn tried to throw him away only to fall on her back when goth Linc pushed her. "Stop thinking you're strong Lynn, you're the weakest person I've ever known, you will never be anything but a disappointment." He sighed.

"Do you really think someone hardheaded and stubborn like you deserved a happy ending, after everything that you have done, after all you did to your own brother?"

"I'm surprised he even cared about you, I'm surprised he didn't want to hurt you by mentioning about your feeling for him, and most of all, I'm surprised that fucking idiot even looked up to you." Goth Linc said with a grim frown.

"But hey what do I know about him, your brother is nothing more than just a bad luck after all am I right." He shrugged. "Maybe you should pray to your luck again to save you this time, they might listen to you." Goth Linc ran his right hand through his white hair, his blue eyes looking down on the girl with pure disgust.

"So that's what this is all about." Lynn muttered through gritted teeth. "That's why you're saying all of this nonsense about him." She slowly got up from the floor and stood Infront of him, her watery brown eyes looking at him with guilt and anger.

"If you really hated me that much... Then hit me, hit me with all you got." Lynn said, balling her right fist against her heaving and aching chest. "Hit me until you stop feeling that pain in your chest." She added.

"I know what I did was wrong, I've been regretting that day all my life, if this can pay up for it then hit me until you're satisfied." Lynn offered with tears welling in her eyes.

It was so fast that she didn't even know what actually happened. She didn't even see the fist almost hitting her face as she was suddenly pushed to the side by a familiar figure with white hair before dropping to the floor. When she looked up jock Linc was already lying back down over the broken dining table as pieces of shattered plates now littering the floor with her sisters standing still around him, far too afraid too move after what they just witnessed.

Goth Linc retracted his outstretched fist back to his side and let out a sigh of defeat, already annoyed with the interruption from the familiar figure of his counterpart.

"You can't keep protecting her jock Linc, one way or another she will get hurt whether you like it or not." The white haired goth said.

"Heh, as long as I'm alive you know I will never let anything like that happen." Jock Linc replied while struggling to sit up from the rubble of the broken table and plates.

"That's why you should also know you will be the one hurts the most at the end of this." Goth Linc rubbed the back of his head, slowly losing interest in the conversation, finding it to be more of a hassle than what he expected at first.

"That's never stopped me before does it." Jock Linc smiled softly at his counterpart, not at all holding a grudge against him after what happened.

Letting out a tired sigh, goth Linc simply shook his head in resignation, already giving up on arguing with his counterpart. It was pointless, his feeling for her was blind and stupid, a ridiculous joke that as much as he don't want to admit it, wasn't even funny. "There's no way talking you out of this I supposed." He then turned his head to look at Lynn.

"And you, it seemed like luck favoured you this time, honestly I can't even say that I'm surprised anymore, there's just one more thing I've to say to you " Goth Linc pointed at jock Linc.

"He will do anything for you, for all of you. If I asked you to choose between your sport and him, what would you choose? Because for him, he have nothing, he never have anything, in the end he will always choose you over everything else." He said with a deep frown.

"Now can someone like you also do the same for him, would you sacrifice everything you ever know and live for to live in this stupid and pathetic lie of yours." He seriously asked as Lynn stared at him with her eyes wide open, still recovering from her fall and the entire situation breaking onto her.

"You can tell me when you have the answer, for now I'm tired with all this nonsense." Looking away, goth Linc glanced indifferently at Lori for a second before carefully taking Lucy's hand and bringing her upstairs with him.

And the night still seemed far from over...

As they walked up the stairs, Lucy couldn't help but look at the back of his brother's counterpart, of the hurry in his step and the tightening grasp of his hand holding onto hers. He was breaking apart, as much as he wanted to hide it, she could clearly see his mask slowly slipping away.

They eventually got into the bathroom as goth Linc closed the door before opening the cabinet over the sink, his half lidded eyes scanning for a first aid kit box they usually put in there only to find nothing.

He clenched his teeth in frustration, feeling his mind slowly breaking apart only to let out his breath to calm himself, there is no point getting riled up over something like this. He wasn't mad, he was just annoyed and exhausted. Seriously, he would do anything to be able to sleep like Lazy Linc right now.

"There should be another first aid kit box in my room, it's under my bed." Lucy said.

"Just..." He sighed. "Just stay here alright." Closing the cabinet, he left the bathroom, walked through the hallway and stepped into Lucy's shared room before looking under her bed...

Only to find nothing.

"You lied to me." He couldn't help but sighed again, sitting on the floor with his knees close to his chest while facing the black haired girl standing at the doorway.

"You also lied to all of us." Lucy responded, casually approaching goth Linc before sitting down Infront of him.

"I didn't lie to anyone." He simply said with a tired look on his face.

"But you didn't tell the whole truth either." Lucy noted, gaining a low chuckle from goth Linc.

"I'm surprised you caught up to me before Lisa." Goth Linc remarked. "Though considering her situation with smart Linc, I should probably expected that already." He added before lowering his gaze to the floor.

"Why did you do it Lincoln?" Lucy asked, caressing his right cheek with her bloodstained hand, the cut had already dried up awhile ago.

"I could ask the same from you Lucy, why did you do it, why did you risk hurting yourself for me, for this horrible and ugly monster pretending to be your brother."

"Because you would do it if I didn't stop you, you know that already." Lucy paused, getting on her knees and leaning her forehead against his.

"And please don't say that." She whispered, her small voice pleading for him to listen to her. "You might be a monster, but that monster is my brother, and that monster is also a person that I hold dear."

"Huh, I really can't hide anything from you I guess." Goth Linc chuckled.

"You are a liar, even when you tell the truth it was still hidden under your lies. You don't hate Lincoln, you just hate yourself, you hate this part of yourself that you kept up for us. Instead of lying to us, you are lying to yourself."

"The reason why you hate Lincoln was easy, it was because you are Lincoln, all that horrible things that you said earlier, you are saying that to yourself."

"You are angry at us, and you've the right to be. Your anger is there to show that you don't deserve our mistreatment. You are protecting us by lying to us, by lying to yourself... To your own feeling."

"You are a bad liar Lincoln, you could never truly hate us, not as much as you hated yourself." Lucy sighed.

"And I don't need you to protect me from yourself either." She softly said before gently pressing her small lips against his, feeling his mouth slightly curving up into a faint smile.

When she pulled back, a tinge of red painted her pale cheeks as goth Linc let out a long sigh of resignation.

"I was wondering when you will finally do that ever since you came into my room that night."