Okay, after starting two other stories, I've finally decided to begin working on the epilogue chapters for my fan-made ending to Requiem. This chapter is going to be mostly what happens immediately after waking up and then there will be a little bit of explanation as well. I've got a plan to have a chapter for the way each of the girls treat each other differently. Then at the very end, I'll have Lincoln's chapter and what he thinks of the whole situation. Also, It just hit me that this series of chapters will actually end up being longer than the original story itself.


Post Awakening

Chapter one - Back Into Rhythm (pt 1)

"I imagine they're probably all up and at-em by now."

Lynn Sr plopped himself down on a chair in the dining room, admiring his handiwork. The intoxicating aroma of freshly cooked buttermilk pancakes filled the air and flowed throughout the house. The stack of more than thirty towered above the table, leaning to the side just slightly. Lynn Sr knew that his Saturday morning breakfast was a fan-favorite and was expecting the rumbling to start any minute now.

A minute passed. "That's okay, the pancakes are still hot."

Five minutes passed. Still no rumbling, not even a creak. He was starting to get anxious.

Ten minutes passed. Still nothing. He decided to grab some pancakes for himself while they were still kind of warm.

Fifteen minutes passed. Not only were the pancakes cold now, but the smell was gone too. "Well, it's their fault for not getting up sooner," he said as he munched on his own serving.

After thirty minutes, he stood up and scratched his head. "Where is everyone?"

He walked upstairs and searched each one of their rooms. He looked and looked, only getting further confused as to why none of them were there. Even Lincoln wasn't in his own room. The last room he checked was Lisa and Lily's room. Lily was standing up in her crib with her hands on the edge of it, bouncing up and down while reaching for her dad.

"At least Lily's here, but where are the rest of them?" He glanced around the room and noticed a sheet of paper resting on Lisa's desk. Curious, he paced over to it and picked up the note.

Dear Male Parental figure,

I made sure to author this document to you with the assumption that you forgot about the dream experiment that all of my siblings and I have agreed to participate in, with the exception of Lily of course. If you are reading this after ten thirty in the morning on Saturday, May 20th, it is most likely that all of us have woken up from our slumber by now. We are in the basement if you feel the desire to come check on us.

With great Regards,

Lisa L. Loud

Lynn Sr, hit himself in the forehead for forgetting about that. Lisa had been looking forward to this experiment for months when she finally figured out a way to do it. The only reason that it had not happened until now was because everyone's schedule was booked. Lincoln had that calendar that he kept in his room with one of his sister's faces on every single box. Every time he saw it, there was never an empty spot, it was always booked. That's why Lisa had to plan it so far into the future, so that no one could back out at the last second.

When he finished reading the note, he walked out of the room, picking up Lily as he left, and went back downstairs, proceeding to make his way to the basement. The door to it was slightly ajar already, but he still proceeded with caution anyway. After all, if the smell of his famous pancakes didn't automatically make them come up, then there must have been something going on. Expecting a fight to break out as soon as he stepped in, he cautiously pushed the door open. But nothing could have prepared him for the next thing he witnessed.

Of course there were the beds in a circle surrounding a weird looking machine, but that wasn't the first thing that he was thinking about. Nine of his daughters, the tenth one being in his arms, looked like they were smothering the poor white haired boy in the middle. His first thought was to yell at them and get them off of his son as soon as possible, but looking closer, he not only saw that the girls had been crying, but also saw that Lincoln's face was wet with tears as well, except he was smiling. Whatever it was that happened, must have affected all of them. Even Lily, who wasn't even there, seemed affected by it in some way, because she was reaching towards the group of people, struggling to get out of her father's arms in the process.

"What the heck? What's going on?"

His curiosity got the better of him and he slowly started descending the wooden stairs into the basement. The creaks that were made every time he took a step were usually loud enough to get the attention of anyone down there, but not this time. Despite the loud creaking, the girls and Lincoln weren't fazed. They all remained in that huddle they were in, clinging to their brother. Lynn Sr stopped when he got to the bottom of the stairs and just looked on as they cried their hearts out. How could he break up something so touching, so amazing, something that never happened, especially in their house? He couldn't bring himself to call their attention. He didn't want to do that to them.

Lily, taking advantage of the fact that her father was distracted, squirmed her way out of his arms, and climbed down her father's torso and legs, then crawled over to where everyone else was and sat down on the ground, reaching up towards her brother. Lincoln looked down at his baby sister from the middle of the group hug, momentarily breaking it apart. If his heart hadn't melted by then, it certainly had now. He picked her up and she hugged him right along with everyone else, it was a picture perfect moment.

After several minutes of holding like this, Lori broke away from the group and walked over to where their father was. It had been nearly fifteen minutes since he walked down here now and had sat himself down on the very bottom step, just above the floor of the basement. He looked up at her with a wary look in his eye. She didn't look happy at all, but that wasn't what struck him first. There was something off about her. Something made her look more stressed out than normal and as her father, he was determined to find out what it was. However, he didn't need to pry any information out of her, she just sat down next to him on the steps and leaned over onto his shoulder. She had been drained, both physically and emotionally, but there was still something that she needed to get off of her chest.

"You don't know what happened yet..."

"No, I don't. You wanna tell me?"

"Not really, but I literally don't have much of a choice do I?"

"I'm not going to make you tell me."

"Trust me dad, this is something you need to know."

Lori sat up on the stairs and crossed her legs with her head looking down at the ground. Was she really about to tell him that Lincoln died right in front of them? Was she really going to go through with this? She still couldn't believe that it was all nothing more than a dream. A mere fantasy that was concocted by that infernal machine. The dull humming noise it was making gently echoed throughout the room. Like the sound of a ceiling fan, it was nothing but background noise and unnoticeable to anyone who wasn't paying attention. Lori could tell it was there though, her whole body was quivering with fear of having to recall everything that happened in the past three weeks, or so it seemed.

"Well, to make a long story short, Lincoln was diagnosed with an incurable disease and was supposed to die in two weeks..."

Lori's eyes were starting to water again. Despite having already gone through it once, thinking about him dying still brought tears to her eyes. It still made her feel vulnerable. She was the oldest, so she was supposed to be the strongest, she had to be the one that was there for all her other siblings, but even she couldn't handle some things that were thrown at her.

"At the end... He did..."

The sudden weight leaning on Lynn Sr took him by surprise. His oldest daughter was leaning on his shoulder, looking like she was holding onto him for dear life. It was too much for her to handle, and hearing this story started making him weak as well. How could his own son die of a terminal disease? It seemed impossible. He couldn't imagine such a terrible thing happening, and neither could any of the other family members. But this dream made them live it.

"But, it was just a dream, right?"

Lori slowly nodded her head, and then looked up at her father, "It didn't feel like one though... Everything we saw, everything we went through, it felt like real life. It didn't feel like a dream..."

She grabbed his shirt and pulled herself back onto him with a more pained expression on her face now. He put his right arm around her and just let her cry into his shoulder. He thought that it would all just pass soon and they would all be back to their normal selves. After a week or two, everything would be the same way it was before. But he still didn't completely understand the situation. He knew that they all saw Lincoln die, but that was all that he knew. He wasn't aware of the events that took place leading up to his death. He didn't know about the fight that Lynn had. He didn't know about the night where Luna went crazy. He didn't know about Lucy hiding in the junkyard. He didn't know about any of those things, so he couldn't give any words of comfort.

"But, there had to be something that made it feel like a dream... You know how in a dream, there will be things that are obviously wrong? And you just won't realize it until you wake up?" At this point, all he was trying to do was get his daughter to stop crying. She was never this upset before, even when Bobby "broke up" with her it didn't have this kind of effect. All he knew, was that she was in pain, and he was doing whatever he could to ease that pain. But all he saw were more tears as she shook her head in disagreement.

"That's not what happened... I thought that it couldn't have been a dream, because I literally remember wishing that it was a dream... and then I woke up, and I didn't believe it... I woke up, believing that Lincoln was..."

Her voice trailed off as the hand of her father held the back of her head. She closed her eyes, biting her lower lip as she tried to calm herself down. Lynn Sr was done trying to use words to make her feel better. If living in this family taught him anything, it was that speaking didn't always help. You can talk all you want and not have any effect on some people. For others, all you would do is make it worse, and this was one of those cases. Every time he said something, it only confirmed even more what had happened. This was one of those moments where silence was necessary. A shoulder to cry on was all Lori needed, and to her, there was only one shoulder that was comfy enough to cry on.

She couldn't do this with any of her siblings. She was supposed to be the strongest older sister, the one who never let anything get to her. They all knew that Lori had her moments, but she usually resolved them on her own. She never needed anyone else, at least, that was what she wanted them to think, which was why when she saw her father coming down the stairs, she got away from them so that she could release everything. Completely opening the barrier and letting everything out. It needed to happen. If nothing happened, then eventually it would become too much to handle. The walls would shatter and the girl that everyone thought was so strong would be defenseless, at least, that was her reasoning.

Before Lori woke up, she forced herself to move on, to get past the fact that Lincoln was gone forever. She would still remember him, of course. She even thought about the times when they would think about him the most. Christmas would come around and everyone would remember the things they got from him. At Halloween they would remember how he dressed up as Ace Savvy every time. During Easter, Lincoln and their father would be the ones to hide the eggs while the rest, even the older sisters if they so desired, went and looked for them. National Siblings day would be tough for them, giving each other presents that they think the other would like, however no one would be assigned to Lincoln. The most painful would be on his birthday though. Visiting his final resting place in the local cemetery on the same day every year. All of them would recall the day that he left them. His final words to them would be on their mind as they talked to him, telling him about everything that they did in recent times, despite the fact that he couldn't respond. All of their accomplishments, all of their joy, but mostly, all of their sorrow, wishing that he could still be there with them. Then the week following that day, no one would be able to think about anything else, except what it would be like if he was still there with them. It would be okay to remember him. It would be okay to mourn every time they thought about him, every time they thought about how unfair it was that he had to go the way he did. But it wouldn't be okay to not move on. They couldn't just act like he was still there. They would have to accept the fact that he was gone forever. But despite the fact that they didn't have to, Lori still did anyway.

When she woke up, she was still in pain from having to watch her brother die, but she made herself come to terms with the fact that Lincoln wasn't coming back. So seeing him right there in front of her, clearly alive and well, completely tore her barriers down. The dam that had taken her years to build up and fortify, were swept away by the sudden flood of emotions; happiness, sadness, anger, but most of all, confusion. Lincoln was dead, she was sure of it. But alas, he was sitting right there, not more than twenty feet away from her. How can you know that something is true, seeing the facts with your own eyes, but not being able to believe it? All of the evidence was right there in front of her, Lincoln was alive, she knew he was alive and wanted to believe it, but for some reason, couldn't. Why not?

Her brain was always riddled with unanswered questions. Some from school, others from home, some of them even came from her own mind. But there was one question that bothered her that she didn't ever have to think about, and she shouldn't have had to think about it. No one should ever have to try to answer this question, one of the only ones that actually defies all logic. How can you see something, and truly not believe it? The circumstances that made Lori ask herself this were obviously extenuating ones, but it should be in every case that seeing is believing. Lori was seeing, there was no doubt, but she wasn't believing, and it was destroying her.


Lincoln was looking over to his sister and father from where he was. He couldn't have imagined what she was going through. He couldn't imagine what any of his sisters were going through. They all just watched him die for goodness sake. But Lori's reaction bothered him the most. What was going on in her mind? Why wasn't she reacting like all of the others were? The thought remained in his head for ages and if it weren't for Lisa's sudden outburst, he probably would have gotten up and asked what was going on.

"Wait a minute..." Lisa said to herself. She then looked up at the ceiling pondering something and as she did, her face became more visibly distressed. "Oh no..." She finally said as she broke from the rest of the group.

"What's going on?" Luna asked.

"I'll be right back, there's a pressing matter that requires my immediate attention!"

"Okay... that was weird..."

"You're tellin' me... and I build mud pies..."

"Why did she leave all of a sudden?"

The question echoed through everyone's mind. The four year old scientist always had pressing matters to attend to, but this seemed quite urgent. It was like she was trying to prevent someone from dying. But despite their joking around about it, she really was. To her, it all made sense. The attention-defecit/hyperactivity-disorder combined with His white hair, and the possibility that their grandfather was albino as opposed to just having white hair made too much sense. Lisa had to know if what was happening in the dream was happening in real life. She had to make sure that her brother wasn't going to die. She didn't want to see him leave them a second time.

Running upstairs to her room, she rummaged through her equipment and notebooks until she finally found what she was looking for. A few months ago she designed and made a prototype for a handheld full-body scanner. She knew it worked. She tested it on Lily several times and many other times on the various pets around the house, but she never had a real reason to use it until now.

She turned it on and quickly scanned herself to make sure that it was working properly, and then ran back downstairs, nearly tripping and falling as she made her way down to the basement. To the others, it seemed like she was back in an instant, but to Lisa, the dread of knowing that what happened in the dream was possible in real life, made her more anxious than she cared to admit. She knew that it was a long shot that whatever happened in the dream was also happening in real life, but despite that, she was still worried about her brother. It was heart-breaking watching him die once, and heaven-forbid what might happen if they had to watch him die again.

When Lisa returned, leaving a trail of dust in the air behind her, the others looked confused. Then, when she jumped on top of Lincoln's bed and forced him to lie back down on it, they got even more confused.

"What the heck is going on dude?"

"Do you all have the cranial capacity of a Sciurus S. carolinensis!?"

Once again, they stared her down with the same dumbfounded look on their face.

"Apparently you do..."

She pressed a button on her device and immediately began scanning Lincoln, taking notice of any anomalies, no matter how small. These were things that may have seemed inconsequential at first, but as Lisa learned, even the most innocent symptoms could end up being life threatening. By the time they realized what was going on before, it was too late, and she, as well as the rest of her sisters, were forced to watch her brother die. If it happened to be the case that this really was happening to him, and he was, quite possibly on the verge of dying, she would do everything in her power to make sure it didn't happen again. Because there was no way she was willing to go through that again.

"What's going on dude?"

"Yeah, like, why are you zapping Linky?"

"I'm merely taking precautions. The Dream-Caster created a situation where some of Lincoln's characteristics ended up being the death of him. For example, his white hair and ADHD were caused by the tumor in his head that eventually killed him. I just want to be confident in the fact that this isn't happening in real life."

The statement made everyone else turn pale, except Leni who had no idea what Lisa said, and Lori who was still confiding in her father. "What do you mean? I don't get it."

"Leni..." Luna sighed. "Remember how in that dream we just had, Lincoln was sick and it made him... umm... well... you remember what happened right?"

"Oh... yeah... I remember..."

"She's making sure that he's not sick."

"Oh..." at this point, they all began shedding tears once again. Even Lisa, the most stoic of them when it came to emotions couldn't help tears falling from her own eyes. She knew that just one bad scan would be all it took for this entire thing to happen all over again. Then they would take him to the hospital, only to find out that it would be too late. One by one, they would act out and get in trouble somehow. Then at the end, they would have to watch him leave them, again.

It may not seem like the odds of those exact same circumstances happening again were even remotely high, but to Lisa, it seemed to be much too coincidental. She knew the odds of this happening to any of them at random, but the evidences for Lincoln's case were there. She ran through the different variables in her head, and found out that the odds of that happening were actually much higher than any of them thought. They were high enough to make her not tell anyone what they were. A thirty-five percent chance may not seem like a lot, but just the fact that they were even that high scared her more than she cared to show.

"What's going on over there?" Lori asked.

"Lisa's making sure that Lincoln's not sick."

"Lincoln... That's right... He's alive... Why do I keep forgetting?"

Though Lori was still trying to convince herself that Lincoln was living and right there with them, the others were too concerned about what was happening in front of them. Lincoln kept still as Lisa continued scanning his body. How long was it going to take? What if he really was sick? What if he had to go through all of it again? Just the prospect of it made Lincoln pale. The chemicals running through his body kept interfering with getting an accurate scan, which only made Lisa more nervous.

Meanwhile the other sisters still had tears falling from their eyes. Just thinking about Lincoln dying again made them all break down. They couldn't stand to live without him. The Louds were generally able to handle whatever life threw at them. Lynn had gotten over her past losses, Luna had moved past her worst performances, Luan had even been able to get over people booing her offstage at times, but a death in the family was different. Especially one that was so close to them. It made them realize that they didn't deserve a brother like Lincoln. Despite having a few selfish moments, he always wanted what was best for his sisters, and when they finally realized this, he was dying. They wouldn't trade him for anything or anyone. Losing him? That wasn't even an option as far as they were concerned. They would do anything for their only brother, and they had more than proved it at this point.

"Is he gonna be okay?"

"I don't know yet... It seems to be hesitant on giving me a definitive answer..."

"Well hurry up!"

"You can't rush this kind of technology! If you do It'll..."

Three consecutive beeps were heard coming from the device, interrupting them, and indicating that the scan was finished. All of them went silent and stared at the flashing red light on the screen. The only sound that could be heard was the groaning of the pipes above them. With shaky hands, Lisa brought the device closer to her face to read it. The flashing red light indicated that there was something abnormal going on, and immediately, she feared the worst, as did the rest of them. There was a moment of hesitation before finally, Lisa gulped and read aloud the results of the scan, not bothering reading it for herself first.


Thanks for reading the first chapter in this epilogue series. I appreciate all the support for it and be sure to leave a review and go read some of my other stories! I bet y'all are gonna hate me for the cliffhanger until I put the next chapter out there. Just a warning, it may be a while before I do get the next chapter out. I need to work on the next chapter of Kidnapped. Thanks again, and I hope you liked it!