Well Holy Crap! Thanks to everyone who has supported this story so far, including UnderratedHero himself who has indirectly given me permission to continue this story, despite the fact that he would have preferred people to wait until Requiem was finished. Sorry that it took so long for this part to be finished, but I really wanted to make sure that it was as good as I could make it before putting it up there. Anyway, enjoy part two!
Part 2 - Gain
The Loud house would never be the same. Everything from this point forward had changed. Even if Lincoln did survive, everything would still be different. It wouldn't be a bad kind of different. Not the kind of different that would make them change for the worse, but different nonetheless. A good kind of different. They would all love each other. Not like the world thinks siblings should; fighting all the time, arguing over where to go and what to do. But they would love each other they way siblings truly should. They would start getting along with each other and would actively make attempts to enjoy each other, no matter how annoying or distracting they might be to each other. Even Lori would repeal the ban from her room, just to prove that things really had changed. Of course, the other sisters would still respect the privacy of their oldest, but wouldn't have to worry any longer about whether or not it was worth it to barge in there without asking. She would be there for them, just like Lincoln was there for all of them and had always been there for them until now.
Lincoln. There was something strange about this whole situation. No one could put their finger on it, but for some reason, they didn't believe he was really dead. It was the strangest feeling in the world. They wanted to be upset that their brother had just died, but for some reason, they couldn't. None of them could. There was something going on that none of them realized. Something about their brother. Lincoln was still there. Well obviously his body was still there, they could see it. But they never thought that he was actually gone. No one knew or realized it at first, but Lincoln really was still alive. Not in the spiritual sense, but in the physical. He was still breathing, and his heart was still beating. Subconsciously, they all knew this; they all knew that he was alive. But it couldn't have been possible, they just saw him die right before their very eyes. Unless their own eyes were deceiving them, there was no way. It was impossible. None of them even thought about the fact that it could have been a dream. None of them dared to consider that they were all laying in bed with their eyes closed, dreaming the worst nightmare they ever had. They all just assumed that what was happening to them was real life. It was too much to handle, too real, and much too painful for it to just be a dream.
But it was.
Lincoln woke up in what felt like a bed. He couldn't see anything as his eyes were still adjusting to the light. "Am I... dead?"
As his vision slowly returned, he glanced over the ceiling of the room he was in and found several light bulbs hanging from it, all of which were successfully lighting the rather large room. With the exception of thinking he was dead, his first thought was that he was in the hospital. Why did they bring him there? He told them he didn't want this. He didn't want any of this. He clenched his fists, a little angry at the thought. But his eyes suddenly widened as he realized that he was still alive. How was it possible? Did Lisa find a cure at the last second? What was going on? He stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating, he felt it. Something was going on that Lincoln couldn't wrap his mind around just yet. Something very strange was happening.
In the corner of the room, there was a large metal furnace. At the top of the nearest wall, there was a small rectangular window that led outside. The late morning sun was bursting through it and was reflecting off of the furnace, lighting up the room more than it already was. There was a washer and dryer in the corner and there were some beat up, wooden stairs a few feet away leading up to a slightly opened door. The place looked an awful lot like their basement. As a matter of fact, it was their basement. Lincoln sat up, dazed and confused. He looked around the room for a moment, and saw nine other people all sleeping in beds that had been set up in a tight circle with the foot of each bed facing the inside of it. The inner part of the circle had a diameter of roughly seven feet and on the ground in the middle of it, was a small machine that looked similar to a computer tower. There were eleven sets of wires coming out of the back of it, ten of which were going to all of the different beds and the last one was connected to what looked like a remote control, but Lincoln couldn't tell. His vision was still too blurry. What he could finally make out though, were the people sleeping in the beds. They were his sisters.
There were ten beds altogether which were occupied by all of the Loud siblings, with the exception, of course, being Lily, who was still peacefully sleeping in her crib upstairs. Lincoln was the only one of them who was awake at this point, despite it being close to eleven in the morning. When he rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his vision, he felt something attached to the side of his head. He discovered that there were suction cups attached to his head with wires coming out of the side of them. He followed the wires along the side of his bed and down to the ground and was vaguely able to trace where they were connected to the device he previously saw. By this point, he could see well enough to notice that there was a word written on the side of the device in big red letters. He squinted trying to read it.
"Dream-Caster"
His eyes widened when he realized what was printed. He suddenly remembered everything that had happened the previous evening. Lisa's dream experiment. Ever since she saw the movie "deception" a few months ago, she had taken a great interest in how the human brain works when people are sleeping. She read dozens of books on different dream theories and wanted to come up with a way to connect people using dreams, just like in the movie. After months of planning and preparation, she finally invented the Dream-Caster. It could connect people to each other in their dreams, but would not reveal what the dream was going to be about or how long the dream would be. Lincoln, at first, was expecting a dream that lasted two days, maybe three at most, but definitely not three weeks. It felt too real. It didn't skip around like a normal dream did. Every detail was there. Every second of every minute of every day passed by just like an average day would. He obviously didn't remember every little thing that happened, but he remembered having to endure every single minute that he was awake. It was painful to have to go through that. He slumped over as a blank expression overtook his face. He couldn't believe that none of it was real. Everything that happened was fake; false; an illusion. How would his sisters react when they woke up?
"Gosh..." he said silently, laying back onto the bed. How would they react? Would they be sad? Happy? Angry? What would they do? When they realized what was going on, would they just stay there on their beds as if they really were waking up from a dream? Or would they run to him, ignoring the possible consequences of what could happen if they just ripped the wires off, not following the right procedure? Nine of his sisters were experiencing, nay, they were living what was possibly, the worst nightmare of their lives. They had just watched their only brother die right in front of them. To them, what could possibly be worse than that?
Lincoln was startled as he heard a groan come from across the room. He sat up a little and carefully looked in the general direction that it came from, only to be disappointed as he did not find any signs of movement. Not even rustling sheets. Still though, he kept watching. If anyone was awake now, they weren't showing it. It was almost as if they didn't want anyone to know they were awake, despite not knowing if anyone was even up yet. Lincoln sat forward in his bed and rested his chin in his hands, looking more annoyed than anything now. Why wasn't anyone moving? He knew he heard someone. Maybe it was just the pipes settling. He had made that mistake at least once before.
"Ugh..."
That was definitely someone. Lincoln's head snapped back to the direction he was previously looking to find that someone was indeed awake, rubbing their eyes. He couldn't tell who it was yet; the person was on the other side of the room and Lincoln's sight was still a little fuzzy. He could see which sisters were in the beds directly next to his and one more beyond those, but after that, he had no idea which girls were in which beds. If they would sit up it would be easy to tell, but so far, none of them did. It also didn't help his case that the glare from the sun reflecting off of the furnace was shining right in his eyes. It wasn't that bright, but it was just bright enough to be a minor annoyance.
"Oh... What the heck just happened?"
Lincoln could finally tell who it was. If her voice wasn't enough to clarify, the girl sat up in her bed. Despite the glare from the furnace he could make out enough of her features. The messy auburn hair, freckles, and dark brown eyes made it obvious who it was. But even if that wasn't enough, her signature red and white T-shirt with the number one on it made everything completely clear. Lincoln watched as his older sister lazily looked around the room, trying to figure out where she was. So far, she hadn't noticed him. Lincoln was waiting anxiously for his sister to figure out that it was just a dream. that everything she experienced, all the pain and anguish she felt for losing her brother, was nothing more than an illusion, a nasty trick that her mind played on her.
Lynn looked in Lincoln's direction and squinted her eyes. The white hair and orange shirt could have fooled her if she didn't take a second look. Was that really him? It couldn't have been; there was no way that he was still alive. She rubbed her eyes again, thinking that it was just a hallucination, but then opened them back up to not only be able to clearly see the color of his hair and shirt, but the classic smile on his face too. She remembered it all too well. Her eyes widened, her heart-rate spiked, and she gasped as she raised her hands to her face. She tried to find something that would indicate that he wasn't really there or that it wasn't really him, but found nothing. There wasn't a single flaw that she could find to even make her doubt it in the slightest. She finally lost control of her emotions and it was like a dam broke in her eyes. There was nothing in the world that was going to stop her now. Tears started flowing down her slightly tanned face as she smiled a little bit. It really was him. It really was her only brother. It was Lincoln.
"Lincoln!"
Not caring about the consequences of what would happen, she ripped all of the wires off of her head and jumped out of the bed, running around the circle until finally reaching him. When she did, she stopped in her tracks right at the edge of the bed. Lincoln looked at her with a slightly confused look on his face. He didn't know it, but she was still having a hard time believing he was really there, despite having confirmed it to herself over and over again.
"Is it... Is it really you?"
Her hands were shaking in front of her chest. She had to reach out and find out if it really was him, but at the same time, didn't want to be disappointed if he wasn't really there. She didn't know what to do. There was a battle going on in her mind. The pain from losing him was still fresh in her mind, and now, seeing him right there in front of her was too much to handle. Was he really there? She looked down at her violently shaking hands, then even further to the floor. What was going on? She had just seen him die before her very eyes. It was so confusing. She wanted to believe he was really alive, but for some reason, she couldn't.
Lynn put her hands to her face and started crying again. More than anything else, she wanted to believe her brother was alive. But the dream she and her other siblings had was so real. The pain she felt was nothing short of what real life would have been. There were so many questions that needed to be answered. Was it really just a dream? Why did she wake up when she did? Why did it end the way it did? Was her brother really alive?
Lynn was startled and stopped crying as she felt a hand touch her arm, pulling it away from her face. It slid down her arm and grasped her hand. That warm touch couldn't have been anyone else. She looked up to find Lincoln looking straight in her eyes with a comforting smile on his face, holding her hand with both of his tightly. Lynn stared at him for a moment before he said something. Hearing his soft, sultry voice speaking to her was all she needed to erase any doubts in her mind.
"I'm here Lynn. It really is me."
"Lincoln..."
She broke down once again and jumped on her little brother, knocking him backwards and making him fall onto the bed. There was no doubt in her mind any longer. He was right there, embracing her as she wept. Nothing made her happier at the moment than feeling her brother's arms wrapping her tightly. It was so warm, so comforting, so relieving to find that he was still right there with her and wasn't leaving anytime soon. She held him tighter as tears kept falling from her eyes onto his already slightly moist shirt. There was nothing in the world that could make her feel more joy; not playing any sports, not winning any games, not even winning the world series would make her feel more amazing than she did now. It was the best feeling she had ever had even though she couldn't stop crying.
Lincoln moved himself backwards a little and sat up further, letting Lynn cry on his shirt. He would let her do that to the end of time if she wanted to. His sisters, right now, were the only things that mattered to him and there wasn't anything that was going to change that. Not now, not ever. He would follow them to the end of the world at this point. He was so ecstatic to know that he was alive. Not for his sake though. But rather, for his sisters' sake. They would all rush to him upon waking up if they even felt similar to the way Lynn did.
"I love you Lincoln," she told him with her eyes still red and moist. "Don't ever leave me again."
Lincoln's heart jumped when he heard this. He almost felt like crying himself, knowing that his sisters loved him this much. If the circumstances were any different, he would have thought that something really weird was going on, but he knew what had just happened and was more than willing to bear the heavy load of all of his sisters' breaking down when once they saw him. It was all he wanted to do. Comforting his sisters was all that he ever wanted to do despite how badly he may have treated them sometimes. Even despite the many times that they treat him badly, all he wants is for them to be happy. If they were happy, then the vast majority of the time, he was happy.
"I love you too Lynn."
He returned her hug and they laid in the bed, enjoying each others' company and warmth. It didn't need to be said. They both knew the obvious. But Lincoln felt the need to say it, and Lynn wouldn't have had it any other way.
Lola and Lana both sat up in their beds which happened to be placed right next to each other. Being only six years old, they didn't need to take too long to wake up and realize that everything that happened was just a dream. They briefly exchanged glances before looking towards their big brother. Seeing him alive made them forget everything that was going on and they ran over to him, jumping on his bed, crying on his shirt and hugging him with every bit of strength they had.
"I can't believe it's really you!" Lana wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled her face up to his.
"Don't ever let it happen again!" Lola did the same thing on the other side of the bed. Lincoln took each of his arms and wrapped them around his little sisters, embracing them as they cried on his cheeks. Lynn had backed off once Lola and Lana jumped on the bed to give them room to hug their brother. They were just as glad to see him as she was and she knew it, so she moved out of their way. She stayed on the bed though, sitting on the edge of it, admiring how loving and tender her little brother was with her two younger sisters. It was so heartwarming to see them together like that. She almost couldn't help but start crying again. All he cared about was making them happy. Thinking about this, a single tear was shed from Lynn's eye. She wiped it away and smiled as she watched her brother comfort her other siblings.
Leni was the next to wake up, followed by Lisa, Lucy, Luna, and Luan respectively. As was expected, they all woke up, confused at first, but upon seeing their brother alive, rushed to him. Just like all of the others, they were so happy to see their brother alive. Even Lisa, when she woke up and remembered what was going on, completely disregarded the fact that this was supposed to be an experiment and ran to Lincoln's side. All she cared about was that her brother was living and breathing right there with them. She didn't care about anything else, and neither did the others. They all stayed close to their brother as they rejoiced and cried with each other. This couldn't be a happier or more life changing moment for them.
It was great and all that Lincoln was alive and they were all happy, but they were so caught up in their celebration and merriment that none of them even noticed that Lori was still asleep. She was still living a nightmare where her brother was dead, and it was torture. She didn't yet know that Lincoln was alive and well. It would have been okay if she woke up just after everyone else did, but she stayed asleep well after the rest of them awoke, and it caused her turmoil. She was asleep for so long, that in the dream, she had come to terms with Lincoln's death and convinced herself that he wasn't coming back. She would wake up having moved on with her life, having accepted a false reality. She didn't do it for herself though. She did it to set an example for their sisters, to show that it was possible to move on from something like this. But she didn't have to, because her brother was still alive.
Everyone else woke up slowly and peacefully. No one was startled or scared when they came back to reality. They woke up, remembered what was going on, and ran to Lincoln's side, embracing their little brother. Lori was different however. She was the only one who jumped awake, breathing heavily and ripping the wires off of her head in the process. She felt so strange. She knew she had woken up from a dream, but there was something different about this. Something weird was going on and she was determined to find out what it was.
The first thing she noticed was that she was in the basement of her house, surrounded by ten beds. The second thing she noticed was the machine in the middle of the floor and the wires that were now sprawled out all over the ground, some of them even coming up to her own bed. Confused, she looked around some more and saw a group of people crowding around one of the beds. She rubbed her eyes and looked closer. They were her younger sisters and for some reason, they all looked happier than they had ever been in their lives. She squinted and as she did, Luna moved to the side a little to reveal an eleven year old boy with freckles and pure white hair, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Lori's eyes went wide upon seeing this. She wiped some more sleep out of her eyes and looked more closely. Sure enough, there was a boy in the middle of the group that just happened to look like her only little brother. She wasn't hallucinating, he really was there, or rather, someone that looked like him was anyway. She didn't believe what she was seeing. It couldn't have been him, he died and she saw it. All of them saw it, yet, they were all acting like he was right there with them. Was he?
Lori slowly got out of bed and started walking towards the group, her heart racing with every step she took. What was going on? Was she going crazy or was it really true? Could her baby brother really be alive? If he was, how? And why? He died right in front of her, there was no mistaking it.
She stumbled a little bit. Looking down, she saw a thick power cord that was connected to the same device she saw earlier. Now that she was closer, she could see what was written on the side of it. What was a dream-caster? Was it one of Lisa's inventions? The machine piqued her interest and she stopped, taking a moment to look at it for a while. Now that her vision was more cleared up, she could see that at the end of each of the wires were suction cups, resting on the floor. She looked back at her own bed and saw the same thing resting on the floor. She looked back at the machine and pondered for a moment what was going on. Then it hit her.
It was all a dream. A terrible, horrible nightmare. Lori turned and stared at her sisters and brother in shock. Her heart-rate skyrocketed again and she started shaking. She had totally convinced herself that her brother was dead and that she needed to move on. Of course she was happy to see him, but seeing him, the real him, made her quiver with fear. She looked like she saw a ghost, and to some extent, she did.
Slowly, she started walking towards him, every step making her heart-rate faster and making her shake more violently. Upon reaching the group, she tapped the person that was nearest to her. Luan, with tears in her eyes, turned around and saw her older sister, except she wasn't completely there. Luan stepped back in shock. Seeing Lori so pale and shaky scared her. The others noticed what was going on and they all looked at their eldest sister. It scared all of them.
Without saying a word, Lori moved to the center of the group where Lincoln was. He looked her straight in the eyes and her into his. She slowly reached out with her trembling hands and grabbed her brother's shoulder. Lincoln grabbed her hand and lifted it up off of his shoulder, standing up at the same time he did this. He then reached around and hugged his sister, trying to calm her down. Immediately, she stopped shaking, her face went more pale than it was before, and she collapsed, being caught by Lincoln and a few others so that she wouldn't hurt herself. They laid her on the nearest bed and crowded around it, waiting for her to wake up. Watching their only brother die had an effect on all of them. They all doubted to some extent whether or not he was really alive, but none of them even came close to dropping on the ground unconscious. Yet at the same time, none of them had yet accepted the fact that their brother was dead either. Only Lori forced herself to move on; prepared to live out the rest of her life without her only brother.
The oldest loud sibling woke up just a few moments later, "Lori are you okay?"
"I think so. What ha..." She stopped speaking when she realized who asked the question. She starting shaking again, looking down at the covers on the bed. With her heart pounding once again, her head turned in Lincoln's direction and met his eyes. He looked at her quizzically for a while, trying to understand what was going on. He understood that she had just seen him die, but a reaction like this seemed completely unnecessary, especially after she had already fainted once.
"Lori? Are you okay?"
She didn't say anything and reached out towards Lincoln, finally resting her hand on his cheek. He sighed out of slight frustration, but then smiled a little bit. Her hand was making it's way down his face, examining the features on it, making sure that she wasn't just going crazy, making sure that he really was there. It didn't seem like it was hard to tell, but she was acting like it was the most difficult thing in the world.
Her hand fell off of Lincoln's face and she just looked him in his eyes. He just looked right back and grabbed her hands again, pulling her into a standing position. No one said anything. There was just complete silence for a minute or two while Lori and Lincoln stared each other down. Finally, breaking the silence, Lincoln said, "It's me Lori. I... I'm really here."
The look of shock that had been stuck on her face since she woke up, turned to one of sorrow. Tears started welling up in her eyes and she slowly tightened her grip on Lincoln's hands. It wasn't so tight that it was cutting off the circulation in his hands, but it wasn't exactly comfortable either. However, it didn't last for very long. After what seemed like forever, she let go of his hands, covering her face with her own, and fell to her knees, crying.
Lincoln looked at her for a moment, his own expression changing to a more sorrowful one. He hated seeing any of his sisters like this, but when Lori reacts like this, being the oldest, affects everyone in a different way. Lincoln could see the look in his other sisters' faces. They were just as scared as he was. He had to let her know that he was there for her though, that despite what she went through, he really was right there with them. So, mustering up some courage, he knelt down to where he could see Lori's face. He was about to say something to her, but when he saw her arms reach towards him, he flinched instinctively and put his hands up. But to his surprise, she reached around him and held on tight, still sobbing while dropping her head onto his shoulder.
Lincoln's eyes went wide and he slowly lowered his hands and put them around his sister. The two of them stayed there, just like that for several minutes without saying anything. She needed someone to hold onto right now, despite the fact that she was the older one and that she was usually the one doing the comforting. Lincoln didn't really care all that much though. All he wanted to do was try to comfort his no longer mourning sisters as best as he could. After what happened, it really was all he felt like he could do.
Lori finally stopped crying and looked up at her little brother's face, smiling a little bit while holding onto his shoulders. Her eyes were still red but she was more in control of herself now. Lincoln smiled back at her and she pulled him in one more time for a hug, a real one. Not one that the other was forced into, neither was it one where they forced each other to do it, but one that both of them wanted and needed.
"You're not leaving anytime soon Lincoln," she said with her arms still wrapped around him. The rest of the siblings that were there, joined in with the two of them in a big group hug. Lincoln, being at the center of it, felt his sisters' warmth surrounding him. It wasn't every day that something like this happened, whether in the Loud family or in the rest of the world. Sure, people died every day and someone would have to move on from their loved one's passing. But when someone is found alive that was thought to be dead, there is always rejoicing. Sometimes there's even change.
This kind of change for the Loud house will be good. Maybe it was necessary, maybe it wasn't. Sure it will still be loud, sure they'll still get angry at each other, sure they'll probably even fight over stupid things, but when it comes down to the time when they really need each other, none of them will hesitate to ask the others for help for fear of being judged. All of them will always want to try to sympathize with each other and help each other out, no matter what it was. If it's something as small as an argument over who gets the last slice of pizza, or if something happened that could threaten to tear their bond apart, they would always try to deal with the problem, and if necessary, do whatever it takes to solve said problem.
Lincoln stayed at the center of the group. Knowing his sisters loved him this much made him start crying, and when they noticed it, they just hugged him tighter. He couldn't help himself. After seeing them so happy from seeing him alive and then feeling them all around him, enveloping him, embracing him, there wasn't anything else he could do. Tears ran down his cheeks. He didn't make any noise. He wasn't even sniffling or short of breath. It was moments like these that he loved, that he lived for.
"I love you guys," he said in a soft yet carrying voice. They all heard his voice and once again, their own tears broke free from their eyes. None of them felt anything else. They were all happy. None of them could have wanted anything different than what they had right now. They often asked themselves how much they really wanted it. They always got onto each others' nerves and regularly fought with each other. But in the end, they wouldn't want it any other way. The way it was, the way it is, and the way that it always will be, is the only way they wanted it. Despite being in a family of only one boy and ten girls, the answer was always the same.
Wouldn't trade it for the world.
This is the end of my Fan-made ending of Requiem for a Loud. However I will be continuing to add epilogue chapters, explaining a few things that may not have made much sense and also revealing how everyone acts differently afterwards. Anyways, thanks for reading and stay posted for future chapters!
