Hey, it's been about a year or so since I've updated this story. Not only have I been procrastinating due to working on my other stories, but working two jobs is occasionally kicking my ass. Anyway, here's chapter 24 of Neon Flash.
Lincoln lied spread eagle on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, imagining it coming close to him, ever so slowly falling onto him and crushing the existence from his body.
*Yawn*. A yawn dared to escape his lips, for his mind had wandered to recent events. It was never a dull day in Royal Woods, he even wonders if this was a preference he was fine with.
Being Neon Flash was pretty awesome and fun, he wouldn't deny that. But he also couldn't deny the risks and responsibilities that come with it. Maybe he could, if Clyde hadn't steered his morality back into fold.
Maybe it was why he went to find Lisa's friend, Darcy. Even if he had reservations in doing it in his civilian guise. He did the deed, Darcy is safe and those psycho scientists aren't touching her. The risk: Lisa discovering his identity. The reward: her assistance in his 'crusade'.
Charles stirred in his sleep, resting on the foot of Lincoln's bed. The white haired boy's eyes looked to him, in turn he smiled at the sleeping pitbull terrier. His eyes would slowly drift, allowing the peace of slumber take him once more, finding peace within his land of dreams.
Rita had been doing a lot of things lately, her job as a dentist assistant, writing a novel, and last but not least… attempting to repair the relationship between her and her only son… if she could call it a repair. The best thing she would say was to attain one.
Lincoln still refers to her as Rita, still isolating himself from her, even when Luna requested him to give her a chance. But in comparison to her husband, Lincoln was attempting with her, but gives her husband the cold shoulder.
A very cold shoulder.
Lincoln wouldn't refer to him as 'Dad' or 'sir', maybe he'd say 'Lynn Sr.' But it was scarce. Normal references were 'old man' and 'asshole' to name a few.
One morning when the family got together for breakfast, the matriarch would say good morning to Lincoln… replying with a grunt. But he replied nevertheless, interpreting it as a good morning response.
Lynn Sr took notice of it, immediately requesting his good morning to what he felt he should have. Lincoln simply brushed it off and told him to 'blow it out his ass'. From there, Lincoln left the house without another word. Her husband grew irate at the notion, apparently juvie didn't teach him anything, it may as well made him worse.
Rita was set straight by her father, finally taking into realization about how much of a failure she was as a mother, preferential treatment to her daughters and downright negligence towards her son. The revelation left a sour taste in her mouth, a constant uneasiness that had a reason to exist.
The goal was to gain Lincoln's trust, the best thing she could do after the time at Burpin Burger, was to make sure that the dog he brought home could stay. Her decision was also influenced by Luna, Lana and Lily's appeals. For Lana, she liked the dog, while it wasn't a pet she brought home, she did like Charles and after hearing that the poor animal was a stray, decided to invite him into the house. Luna, believing it would help regain Lincoln's trust. Lily, did it for the same reason as Lana.
Rita had to be a better mother, she couldn't leave the strained bond with Lincoln and possibly the rest of her kids as it is. Her husband may not see it, but she does.
Finishing up the remaining dishes she wanted to wash, Rita dried her hands. From the corner of her eye, a figure was walking outside her window. It was somewhat obscured, but she had a sense of familiarity from it.
Dressed in black, long hair, hair that covered her eyes and a bat on her shoulder, and it was flapping its wings. That was Lucy and her bat Fangs… but why was she out at that time?
Rita knows that they go for evening strolls, that was a normality for the goth. But she's been going out a lot recently. Plus, everybody should be sleeping soon, and she should be asleep along with her siblings.
Rita can trust Lucy coming back home, the surrounding area of the Loud House is safe. The only rackets that were caused by the area were caused by this family… which sounded bad now that she thought about it.
The day was tiresome and the sweet lulls of a nearby bed called to her. Unconsciously, she went towards it, one thing was for certain: a talk with Lucy was needed. She soldiered on for staying awake, but her need for sleep was outweighing everything else.
The fruits of morning bore onto Michigan.
Most of the family found themselves awake and in line to use the bathroom. Apparently, Lincoln was next, some were already finished, but the person already in the bathroom happened to be Lucy.
Rita trekked up the steps to check on her kids, and if Lucy was there, attain an explanation of where she was last night. From there, she witnessed her only son in front of the door. His arms were crossed, head tilted upward, eyes cast toward the ceiling with a patient, yet disinterested face.
Mustering some amount of courage, Rita walked up to him. "Good morning, Lincoln." She greeted her son. She looked to see him slightly turning his head and looking at her from the corner of his eye.
"Rita." He simply addressed. There was no insult, or a notice of a hostile tone. There, she sees that there's a certain level of tolerance she gained from it. A small thing, but it's a start.
"Who's in the bathroom?" She asked Lincoln. But she said it loud enough for the person in question to hear. The response was that the bathroom door opened, to reveal Lucy's normal, disinterested face.
"Good morning, Lucy. Would you mind telling us where you've been last night?"
Not exactly showing an interest in the conversation, Lincoln walked into the bathroom, taking his turn since it was apparent that Lucy was done. Even if he was in there, the conversation still traveled inside, allowing him to hear.
"On a stroll in the comfort of a dark and hollow night." Lucy explained. But that did not satisfy her mother.
"Lucy, if you want to go on strolls that's fine, but you need to remember that we have a curfew and you should be in the house by then."
"I will be fine Mom, it's good to know that you 'actually' take the time to care." Within her brooding and deadpan tone had an unusual level of snark. Something that Lincoln noticed.
He raised his brow in suspicion. But he remained silent, vigilant. This attitude, he had with some people, with actual reason… but what was Lucy's? Sneaking off at night, the attitude?
"Lucy, I'm saying this because I care. I don't want you going out after curfew like that. If this happens again, there will be a problem. Are we clear?" Rita folded her arms and put her foot down on the matter. Yet this did not deter the brooding one.
Lucy merely scoffed at the notion and walked downstairs. Rita could only look in concern for her. Right behind her, he could hear the sink running… most likely Lincoln was washing his hands. After that, he left the bathroom, seeing her in obvious distraught. Lincoln paused for a minute, thought about comforting her… but refrained from doing so and went downstairs for breakfast.
It was more of an awkward get together if anything, the tension was insurmountably present. Lincoln was just minding his business, everyone else may have been eating, but take quick glances towards Lucy.
She hadn't been herself, not the usual self they all knew her to be. If she was going to do a jump scare, perform rituals and talk about digging graves, that's her thing. But lately, she's become more standoffish… irked… as if they were setting her off.
The goth decided to leave the table, not saying a word and just walked outside, waiting for that ride to school granted by Lori. The breakfast ended in such an awkward manner.
The first who was brave and caring enough to speak their voice was Lily. "Is Lucy okay?" She asked.
"Ehh, she's probably fine. Miss Doom and Gloom probably woke up on the wrong side of the coffin this morning." Lynn answered.
"I don't know dude." Luna stated. "Something just feels… off."
"Maybe we should give her a little time. She'll probably feel better later on." Lori suggested.
"Alright, I'm heading out." Lincoln said. He slung his backpack on his shoulders and proceeded to walk out of the front door.
"Wait Lincoln! Don't you need a ride?" Lori offered.
"Nope." He answered. He opened the door and took a step outside. "Pretty sure I'll make it." He shuts the door. From there, he was greeted with Lucy's indifferent stare. Well she didn't stare at him as she stared across the street. Simply ignoring whatever was going on around her.
Lincoln didn't look at her like the others did. From the air around the both of them, there was a sense of aggravation poorly being repressed down the abyss. Should that be the case, that anger will claw its way up to the surface and slither around in the dark corners of her mind.
Lincoln just chose to let it be and walk towards school. But not before getting eye and earshot away from the Loud House and make a mad dash all the way there.
Getting at a considerable distance. He decided to wait at a certain spot, where he and Clyde would meet up to walk to school. Actually, it was more like Clyde bumped into Lincoln, where the latter just didn't have a care in the world at the moment and greeted him. Lincoln really didn't mind it, he's sees Clyde as a good guy looking out for him. He did leave behind several texts, wondering about him.
'So you're not coming to school?'
'Sorry Lincoln, I got this doctor's appointment. Can't really miss it.'
'It's not anything bad, is it?'
'Nah. It's just a physical. But hey, lemme know if there's something exciting going on.'
'I'll do my best on that, Clyde.'
'Also, could you get me some class notes for today?'
'No promises.'
'Okay.' Clyde ended the conversation with a laughing emoji.
Mildly smiling at the last message. He was about to walk to school, but a force pushed his shoulder forward, nearly compromising his balance.
"Hey there, Lame-O." Lincoln turned to see Ronnie Anne Santiago. Hands right behind her back, playfully smiling at him. He couldn't help but smile back, his day was finally brightened.
"Ronnie Anne! It's good to see you!"
"You too. I hope things are okay between us… after our little… hangout got interrupted."
Lincoln decided to play for a bit. "Hangout. Aww… and here I thought we were dating." He playfully bumped Ronnie Anne's shoulder with his own. "We study together, dance together and now we're walking to school together. Are you playing with me?" He asked her, feigning heartbreak.
"I dunno. What do you think?" Leaving Lincoln to his own wonders, it just felt so fun… so interesting.
Lincoln decided to grease the wheels. "I like a game every now and then. Maybe I'm curious about how it'll play out. Okay, let's see where it goes."
"Just to warn you, I like it when I win." Ronnie Anne concludes. They both stared at each other while walking. Losing themselves in their flirty banter. It felt nice to drop their guards, just be them without a dictation of what they are supposed to be and act.
"UNITY, FAITH AND LOVE IS WHAT BRINGS US TOGETHER, EVEN IN THE DARKEST DAYS OF OUR LIVES! WE KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE, TO BE IGNORED, TO BE ALONE, TO BE REPUDIATED! BUT WE WELCOME YOU, WE ACCEPT YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE!"
Both of them stopped, the moment they had with each other seemingly ruined by some clown shouting to the skies, interrupting the peace of the morning. His outfit wrinkly and faded, a symbol of a sun in a crescent like shape, poorly represented on the torso of his shirt. Baggy pants, slightly torn at the knees and the outer thighs, the bottom helm ripped, hanging loose from the ankles. The man took no pride in himself, everything about him could be described as 'unkempt'.
"THIS SOCIETY CAN CHANGE! WE ALL CAN CHANGE! WITH THIS CHANGE, WE CAN ALL SEE THE TRUTH, THAT WE CAN BE ONE WORLD! ONE FAMILY! VIA LUCIS!" He would continue this ranting, even when people would go to him and politely ask him to refrain from these beautiful speeches that were laced with a poison.
"Well, that kinda ruined it." Lincoln stated the obvious. He sighed inwardly, looking at the skies or ahead, practically anywhere that kept his attention away from the stranger.
"Yeah. I heard about these guys… that thing he said that gave it away. 'Via Lucis'…" Ronnie Anne started to explain. "'The Way of the Light'… that's what they called it."
Lincoln scoffed. "Sounds like the weirdo is a part some crazy cult."
"That's because he is! Look, I've been hearing rumors about these guys, pretty dangerous people. It's like whenever they're preaching about peace and all that stuff, they're going out and doing stuff such as assault, vandalism, disturbing the peace… I mean… some of its petty, but my word of advice: keep away from them." Ronnie Anne concluded.
"Trust me, I'm gonna be fine… I'm not gonna let some doomsday, religious or whatever cult get to me." Lincoln remarked this with confidence. To him, these cultists were nothing but deluded fools led by a charismatic, but even more delusional fool. Of course they prey on the weak and lonely, they want to promise them happiness, give them a clarity… a purity. Only to make them more twisted and messed up in the head that they were initially. There were times he felt sorry for people falling in with them and times where those people would hold firmly to those beliefs where the pity well practically bottoms out.
"I hope not. Should we get to class?"
Lincoln raised his brow and smirked at her question. "Lead the way." He answered.
Ronnie Anne proceeded to walk into the school. As she was in front, Lincoln was behind, noticing something particular about her for a boy his age. It wasn't the back of her long black hair that got his attention, but it was somewhere lower. The coy smile never fading he couldn't help but look at those hips sashaying in its youthful glory. He couldn't help but wonder about this.
Lincoln wondered if Ronnie Anne was moving like this on purpose!
If she was, she'd completely got Lincoln in her snare. All trapped, helpless and ripe for someone to prey upon.
As they were about to part to their classes, Ronnie Anne turned to look at him. Her facial expressing what would answer Lincoln's question. The facial expression was also coy, translating to 'I saw you peeking'. Apparently, she didn't mind it.
Lincoln answered by simply shrugging his shoulders. Of course he was doing it. His body language said 'so'?
Schoolwork, schoolwork, schoolwork… couldn't there be anything more interesting, more stimulating than all of this stuff? There probably would be, but he remembered that he had to write notes, for Clyde and for himself.
"Via lucis." He mumbled under his breath. "What a crock."
The best part about school at that point in time was that it ended. Lincoln decided to leave, head back to the Loud House for a bit and gather his thoughts, take a break, and maybe play a game or two.
Arriving in the makeshift bedroom. Lincoln tosses his backpack to the floor; he sees Charles leap up to the bed and meet him there. He ruffles the dog's head. "Hey, bud."
Lincoln pulls out his phone and begins to contact Clyde, this time by call instead of texting.
"Hey Lincoln, what's going on?" Clyde answered the call.
"Just wanted to know how the checkup went, tell some exciting stuff and let you know I got your notes."
"Phew! Thanks man, I owe ya one."
"Look, uhh… I heard rumors about a cult… call themselves The Way of the Light… know anything about it?"
"Hold on." From the sound coming from the phone, Clyde was rummaging through things. Must've been something cluttered if he heard something drop. "Okay, here we go. The Way of the Light was a cult that formulated four to five years ago, the timeline is sketchy. But the members migrated to Royal Woods, along with its reclusive leader. There were reports of them trying to get new people into the fold." Clyde concludes.
Lincoln lies down on the bed. "Why doesn't that surprise me? A deluded idiot standing on a wooden box, talking about how messed up the world is, that we can be a part of something better, blah, blah, blah, then there's blood rituals, human sacrifices, or some worse crap. One deluded idiot creating a group of even more deluded idiots."
"I wish it was that simple bud, but it doesn't work that way… well not exactly at least."
"What? You feel sorry for these guys?"
"Think about it like this: there's someone young, their family life isn't that great, no friends, society treats them like crap and they're all alone. Somebody comes in, say that there's something out there just like them."
Lincoln softened at Clyde's explanation. It was a common mindset if people just thought of the word 'cult' or 'cultist'.
"People need love and hope. Sometimes they're too scared to reach out, or they don't know who to reach out too. When the cult comes in, the leader or whoever… they get you by saying that there are people like them in their cult and they want to reach out. Find each other and in exchange, they kinda see the leader as the only one looking out for them. Like a domino effect, they see more people like them, how society treats them, they're gonna try to find them, have them be a part of their 'family' and… well you'll know the rest."
Lincoln sat back up. "Well… I… huh…" Lincoln was left speechless by Clyde's words. It held a lot of merit. He reflected on the words spoken to him. He would've reflected further, if there wasn't a knock on the door.
"Hey, dude! Dinner's ready!" Luna's voice called to him.
"I'll catch up with you soon. Gotta get something to eat."
"Alright man, see ya." The call ended. Lincoln went down the steps to get something down his gut. The sooner dinner is finished, the better.
The days were ending with everyone talking about their day. For the most part some of the conversations were drowned out. Lynn Junior was talking about an upcoming game and how fired up she was for it. Lori, she talked about some 'girl drama', as he would call it. Leni talked about a fashion idea that she had and wanted to design. Luna was getting some new songs created with her band.
So far, the voices were hollowed, garbled… his attention spent elsewhere. He felt a tap on his forearm.
"Lincoln." He shot his head up, looked to the perpetrator, to see it was merely Luna. Knowing this, his softened.
"Sorry. What's up?" He spoke with a friendly manner.
"We wanted to know how your day went."
"I mean it was fine… walked with someone to school, nothing really interesting today."
"That's cool, dude. The small days can make a big difference."
"I guess." He resumed eating the food laid out for him.
"What about you, Lucy? Anything fun happen today?" Lincoln's attention went towards Lucy, wondering if she's calmed down after this morning.
"Nothing happened, nothing but the monotonous daily life that we all apparently live." Lucy described in her regular, emotionless tone.
"Umm Luce, what's going on?" Lori interjected. Of course that her little sister would be like this, but there was something more depressing about the way she talked.
"Nothing. Nothing at all." She took her leave from the table. Finishing her meal and walking up the stairs.
Usually when it's 'nothing', it's something. That's something Lincoln noticed, standing idly by, tempting as it was… it wasn't gonna fly.
Night fell, with everyone falling into slumber, the house finally fell quiet. Lincoln stayed up for a bit checking outside if there was anything suspicious. Ever vigilant, it was well rewarded with the faint sound of a door creaking shut. Not even hearing the blasted thing open. He went out to the window to see it was Lucy, once again sneaking out of home, past curfew.
Knowing Lucy, she's been pretty withdrawn from the family, Rita or any of the sisters couldn't get through. If there was something more going on with Lucy, he had to find out.
Lincoln Loud wouldn't find out… but Neon Flash could.
Gotta say, it's nice to get back to one of my Loud House stories, especially this one. This chapter and the next three chapters following it will be a Lucy-centered mini-arc. This four-chapter mini-arc was thought of by Geo Soul while the chapter itself was written out by DismalOrc29177, so all credit for this chapter and the next three chapters goes to them.
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