Thanks for the support for this story. In this chapter, there are a few references to "No such Luck" and my one-shot that derived from it. In the Author's note of said story, I said I hated that episode so much, that I essentially changed the way it ended, technically making it an AU version of "No Such Luck". In my story, I said that Lincoln ran away instead of being kicked out. I am writing this as if these two stories are in the same universe. Also, I decided to make this all one chapter instead of just adding another back into rhythm chapter because of reasons that I will explain at the end. Anyway, sorry it took so long to get it out, hope you like it.

Post Awakening

Chapter 2 - Back into Rhythm (pt 2)

"To start off, his respiratory system is functioning at sub-par levels, his potassium and iron levels are a bit low, there is the most minuscule amount of plaque buildup in his femoral artery, and he does actually have Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as well as a slight case of carpal tunnel syndrome from playing video-games too often..."

They all looked at Lisa, waiting for an answer of some kind. When they didn't get one, Luna spoke up, "So what's the good news?"

Lisa adjusted her glasses before responding, "He won't be leaving us in the near future."

A collective sigh of relief could be heard throughout the room. Even Lori, who was still unsure of what to think of the whole situation was slightly more relieved than she was before.

"Oh thank goodness..." Lynn said out loud, sniffling a little bit. "I don't wanna have to go through that again."

"I think the rest of us can agree with that," Luna agreed. Everyone else nodded their heads and went back to hug Lincoln, who was now at this point, nearly suffocating.

Some more time passed as the Loud children let everything out; crying and sobbing and hoping they don't have to see not just Lincoln, but any of them die. Lynn Sr finally decided to make a move and stood up. Lori was still sitting next to him so she was startled for a second when he got up.

"Kids!" They all slowly moved turned their heads in his direction. He looked right back at them, trying to keep as solid of a composure as he could, but was wavering himself a little bit just thinking about the fact that they had all gone through the same traumatic experience. His only hope at this point was that they would be better off from this.

"Breakfast is ready. I made pancakes."

"Whoa, dudes, we haven't had pancakes in months!"

"Technically it has only been a week since the last time we had that delicious concoction, as we were only in the dream for a mere sixteen hours, despite the fact that we experienced approximately twenty-two days in it."

"Wait, so you're saying we only fell asleep just yesterday afternoon?"

"That is correct..."

"Whoa... Trippy dudes..."

"Wait, did I still get my beauty sleep or not?"

Lana looked over at her and shrugged. Lisa merely smacked her head, finding it hard to believe that they were be thinking about that as opposed to the intricacies that went on with the dream.

"So, like, all those clothes I sewed for Linky... what happened to them?"

"They were never real Leni, you didn't actually make them."

"Wait... I didn't?"

"No, you were in a dream."

"I know that, but... wait, I get it now, it was a dream, so I have to fall asleep again, then I can bring the clothes back here right?"

"Leni... that's not how it works..."

While everyone else was talking and chatting, Lincoln had made his way to the dining room to eat some pancakes. Taking his normal seat he cut a chunk out of the stack that was on his plate and shoved them into his mouth. They were cold, but still good. His father, who had not yet shaved that morning, came up to join him. Lynn Sr sat down right next to his son and ruffled Lincoln's white hair as he plopped himself down.

"So... Lori told me what happened..."

"Yeah... I think they got it worse than I did..."

"Why do you say that kiddo..."

"I may have died dad... but they had to watch me die... I don't know if Lori told you this, but before I... um... woke up... I was telling them my final words, as if I really were on my deathbed, because I thought I was... And they thought I was too... I bid them farewell for the rest of their lives, and then woke up to find out it was all just a dream... Something that never happened..."

Lynn Sr's eyes went wide hearing this. He knew that Lori would have obviously left a few details out, being rather distraught, but he never thought that she would miss telling him something like this. At this point he was starting to wonder why they had the dream they did. Did Lisa plan for this to happen? Could she have even controlled what they dreamed about? He wanted to ask Lincoln all these questions because he was right there, but judged against it, deciding to ask Lisa about it Later. What made him think that Lincoln even knew the answers to those questions.

"Dad..."

"Yes son?"

"There was a day, in the dream where you and I went to Silver Lake... And you told me what or who all of us were named after."

"And you want to know if it's true or not?"

"Yeah, I kind of do."

"Well son, Lori..."

"Was named after the friend that brought you and mom together... because when you found out mom was pregnant, you and mom got back together, so you named her Lori. That's what you told me in the dream."

Lynn Sr was astounded. Not only was he correct in who Lori was named after, but also about why. "What about Luna?"

"Named after the Spanish word for moon as you, mom, Leni, and Lori were going for an evening stroll."

"What about Lily, there's no way you could get that one right!"

"Harry Potter's mother, right?"

"What the Heck! How did this all come to you?"

"That question would be better for Lisa. I have no idea."

There shouldn't have been any way on Earth that Lincoln would be able to know what had happened unless Lori had told him, because she was the only one who knew all these things.

They both sat there in silence for a moment as Lincoln finished his pancakes. A few minutes after he had finished, the rest of his sisters, with Lori dragging behind them, came up the stairs to find that the table had been set for them. Cold pancakes were sitting on ten plates that were ready and waiting to be eaten. They didn't know it when they walked in, but Lincoln had set the table for them. Even after what happened, he still wanted what was best for them. How did they get a brother like him? They, by no means, deserved him. Before the dream, they all treated him like trash. The whole, "Good Luck/Bad Luck" ordeal made them briefly consider what they were doing, but it took his death to truly make them realize all of the terrible things they did to him when compared to the things he did for them.

He wasn't the most selfless person by any means, he had his selfish moments and they all knew it. It was mostly his own doing that they thought he was even bad luck in the first place, but his worst moments didn't even hold a candle to their worst moments. Every time he did something that made them mad, even if it was on accident, he tried to fix it to the best of his ability. He always tried so hard to make his sisters happy, but what was the best thing they did in return? They bought a cheap plastic trophy for him and scribbled the words, "most improved brother" on it. He was even glad to receive it, just because it was coming from them. But the things he did for them, they all just brushed aside. It may have been because they were used to him doing things like that, but the fact that they didn't show him the appreciation that they should have been showing him, was what was breaking them down.

"So girls, I umm... heard about what happened... Would anyone like to tell me more?"

Lynn Sr knew that he had to choose his words carefully. With all of them coming out of what was potentially a traumatic experience was nothing to joke about. If he didn't say the right thing, he might have had a small crisis on his hands.

"Not really actually..."

"Normally, even I would be more than ecstatic to inform you on the scientific progress that was made from this experiment, but at the moment, I am lacking the mental clarity due to the events that transpired while we were unconscious."

"English please?"

"I don't want to say anything regarding what just happened..." under her breath, Lisa then murmured, "Simpleton."

"What did you just call me?!"

"Would you really like to know?!"

"I would!"

"I said you're a simpleton!"

"I've, like, heard that word before... some nerdy guys at school called me that once!"

"Oh, it's not just them Leni..."

"Ugh... here we go again..."

"Guys, can we for once, not fight with each other?" Lori exclaimed, standing up.

Her sudden outburst took all of them by surprise. No one was expecting Lori of all people to try to stop them from fighting. After all, she was the one with the worst temper, if anything, they thought that she would join in on any of the arguments that were going on.

"Listen, I know that literally sounds strange coming from me of all people. Trust me, even I'm surprised at myself, but did we learn nothing? We can't just go through life treating each other like garbage. We got lucky that Lincoln didn't really... you know..." None of them even wanted to say the word for fear of breaking out into tears again. "But what if something like that did happen? What if there was some sort of accident and one of us got badly hurt, or even killed? Would you really want this to be the last conversation you had?"

All of them stopped the arguments that they were having and went back to eating their breakfast with shame on their faces. They knew that she was right. Normally, it wouldn't be her to say something like that, but she had been changed, and they could all see it. Lori sat back down and then continued eating.

"Lincoln set the table for you today, did you know that?"

"Ugh... why did you have to say that dad?"

Their eyes all turned to the boy with white hair, sitting close to the end of the crowded table. He shot a glance at his dad who just shrugged. He was about to just go back to twiddling his fingers, but the person sitting next to him, wrapped her arms around him. His annoyance turned to surprise and slight embarrassment when he felt Lynn's arms wrapping around his shoulders. Lincoln wasn't sure how to respond to this. All he could think to do was wrap his arms around her as well. It wasn't just Lynn though. Luna soon walked over to him and followed suit, as well as Leni, Lana, and Lola, and before long, all of his sisters were surrounding him in a big group hug.

"Thanks Linc... You didn't have to do that."

"Well... I..."

"After everything we do to you, why do you still do these things anyway?"

"Because I love you guys, plain and simple. No matter what you may do to me or what you may think of me, I'm always going to love you guys."

"Aww, Lincoln."

"You really are the best brother ever."

As they all embraced their brother for a hug, Lori spoke up again. "Guys..." she sighed, trying to think of the right words to say. It wasn't ever easy doing this, especially now, but she thought that it was the best time for it. "Do y'all remember how we acted in the dream, after we found out... umm... the news?"

Everyone nodded. They remembered for sure, but why did she ask? Where was she going with this? What was she going to say?

"I guess what I'm trying to say, is... when we found out what was happening to Lincoln, we all started acting differently. Yes, we were all more stressed out, but we also stopped treating each other like... umm..."

"Like we were forced to live together?"

"That's literally it. We stopped treating each other like that and we actually started acting like a family should."

"So what are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that I don't think we should stop just because it was all a dream. I mean, come on guys, if it takes someone dying for us to really get it together and really, truly be a family, that in itself shows that there was a problem to begin with, and if we're being honest with ourselves, we all know what the problem is." Everyone looked at Lincoln, but not with a mad or even slightly upset look. Instead, it was a look of regret and sorrow. "So as the oldest, I'll start..." Lori got down on her knees next to Lincoln and grabbed his hands. The boy blushed a little bit, but only because he didn't know what she was doing. "I'm sorry Lincoln. I'm sorry for all the times I hit you, for all the times I took your room for my own selfish reasons, for all the times that I was ungrateful, and especially for all the times that I provoked you." She paused for a moment and glanced around the room, seeing the surprised, but not quite shocked faces of everyone else sitting there. To her they all looked a bit skeptical that she would say something like that, so she responded further. "And to prove that I really mean it, literally, and that I'm not just saying it to save face, the rule that I made a long time ago, about never coming into my room except for emergencies, is officially revoked. And not just for Lincoln either, but for everyone as long as I live in this house."

Immediately, every face in the room turned from slight skepticism, to complete shock, eliciting some gasps as well. Even their own father was surprised that Lori would say something like this.

"Whoa... Lori, you don't have to do that for my sake!"

"See what I mean? Even when I'm trying to recompense for all the times I've wronged you, you still think about me before yourself... Which literally isn't something any of the rest of us have ever done... Besides, I'm not doing this for your sake. I'm literally doing this for me. This is something that I need to do, not just to prove to you guys that I'm trying to be different, but to prove it to myself as well. Because now that I've said it, I can't go back."

Lori went silent after that, expecting Lincoln to try to make a rebuttal, but he didn't. He just sat there in silence. He for sure knew that they had wronged him before, but did it really take until just now, to realize that he was doing these things the whole time anyway? Did he know what he was doing for them? What if he didn't even realize it? What if he was just such a kindhearted person that he thought that his behavior was considered normal? It may have be ignorant to think that, but neither Lori, nor any of his other sisters were in any place to talk to him about ignorance. For nearly all of his life, all of them were ignorant of his wants, of his privacy, even his needs in some cases.

"Lincoln, I know that you don't want us to have to do anything, but..." Lori sighed and paused for a moment before speaking up again. "There's something that we have to do. We have to be more like... well... more like you..."

Lincoln was astounded at this. They needed to be more like him? He wasn't totally oblivious to the fact that he was generally more selfless than they were. They nearly kicked him out of the house for goodness sake, that's not something that you can just ignore! But to go so far as to say they needed to be more like him was something that seemed totally ridiculous. But they were all thinking it. All of his sisters, and even his own dad knew that they hadn't been treating him like they were supposed to treat him, let alone how he deserved to be treated.

"Lincoln, dude, if I know you as well as I think I do, then I know you're thinking that we feel like we have to pay you back in some way, right?"

Lincoln nodded his head.

"And If that's the case, then I bet you're also thinking that you don't think we need to do that... right?"

Once again, Lincoln silently agreed.

"Well then as right as you may be about us, I guess there's no getting that out of your head. That being said, if you need anything, and I mean anything, even if it's not something I'm even able to do, I'll at least be there for you bro."

"I concur with Luna's statement. And if I may join in with Lori in changing something significant about my behavior, after this meeting has concluded, I will no longer be using the video cameras in the house for observation purposes and they will only be used for security measures. And as a further measure to assure that I will not be observing you in your rooms, after this meeting has concluded, I will need assistance transferring the monitors to whatever room in the house our parental units would prefer to have it kept."

"Wait, you've got video cameras in every room in the house?"

"It appears that I have neglected to mention that to you."

Lynn Sr gave Lisa a stern look, but given the circumstances of the moment, moved on from it, allowing Leni to speak. "Linky, I know I'm not the smartest one here, but I do know, that as your sisters, we're supposed to stand up for you, even if it means going against each other sometimes. And as much as I may have wanted to, I haven't always done that. But I promise, from now on, I'll stand up for you, even if everyone else is ganging up on you."

After she was finished, everyone took their turn vowing something to Lincoln and then promising to do something different. "I'm gonna start formally inviting all of you to my tea parties from now on, with fancy invitations. And I promise, I won't make anyone go if they don't want to."

"I'll admit, I've gone overboard for April Fool's day before, but from this day forward, no more. I'll treat it just like a normal day!"

Whether it was something as small as no more mud pies in the house, or something as huge as what Lori promised. All of them except Lynn, who wasn't able to think of something, despite her best efforts. And it devastated her. She felt like she was the main perpetrator for most of Lincoln's suffering, yet she was the only one who couldn't think of something to do for him. She felt like she was the closest to him, she should know him better than any of his other sisters, yet she was drawing a blank. She couldn't just say she was going to treat him better in general every day, it was an unspoken agreement that they were going to do that. But at the same time, she felt like she couldn't just say she would stop hitting him playfully, that's not something big enough to symbolize her making a difference. She didn't think she was showing it, but this thing was tearing her apart.

"Lynn, you didn't say anything," Lori quipped.

Lynn automatically assumed Lori was mad at her for not having said anything and quickly responded with, "I'm thinking, okay!" Then she turned to look at her oldest sister. The look on her face was not one of anger at all, and it just mad Lynn feel worse. Instead of trying to accuse her of not caring or something of the like, Lori was actually curious as to why she didn't say anything.

"What are you thinking?" Luna asked.

"I don't really wanna say..." Lynn began. She knew it wasn't like her to reveal her deepest thoughts to anyone, even her own siblings, and her pride was the whole reason she was like that. She sighed, "I can't think of anything good enough to prove that I want to be different too. It seemed to be so easy for you guys to do it, I mean for goodness sake, Lori knew exactly what it was she was going to say!" Lynn had raised her voice significantly now. "I was the one who thought Lincoln was bad luck and then convinced everyone else too!" Everyone cringed a bit when she mentioned that, including Lynn Sr. "I'm the one who bullies him the most and force him to practice sports with me among other things. I've been the worst offender, and I need to do something big enough that will make up for it, but no matter how hard I try... I just can't think of anything good enough!"

After slamming her fist on the table, Lynn crossed her arms on the table and rested her face into them, sobbing quietly. No one said anything and no one even moved. She felt an arm reach around her and someone's hand rest on the opposite shoulder, but didn't change anything about her posture. She just kept herself down like she was and tried to make herself stop crying. Being the tough one is not easy by any means. Everyone expects a person with no softness, no weakness, and keeping that up in moments like these are stressful. But at this moment, Lynn didn't care about any of that. She didn't care that she was the tough one, the strong one, the solid one. She only cared about one thing right now, and that was Lincoln.

If she had realized it was his arm around her, she would have perked up much sooner, but her mind was much too distracted, trying to make sense of too much. Her thoughts were tormenting her, "Why did I do all those terrible things? What could I have possibly been thinking? Why does he not hate me? Why doesn't he seek revenge? Why does he still do nice things for me? After all I've done, why?"

"Lynn..."

Her head jerked up to see his bright green eyes staring right into hers. She had never noticed that their eyes were the only ones that shared the same color. The rest of them had their mother's blue eyes, but only Lincoln and his immediate older sister had their father's eyes. His smile was something too. That smile made all of her questions melt into nothing more than a subconscious passing moment. It made her feel like she had never felt before. She was always the one who tried to comfort him, but in this moment, that was different. His smile made her feel comforted, made her feel pleasant, it made her feel loved. She had felt this before, but not for a long time. When she had gotten into sports, she became the tough, hardcore person that everyone knew her as. However, it was not like that at the moment. The way she thought of herself her entire life, had changed in an instant.

She couldn't take it anymore. Looking into his eyes broke her down and she fell into his arms, nearly knocking him off of the chair he was sitting in. As she rested, sobbing on his chest, she felt his arms wrap around her as if he knew exactly what to do. She didn't care that the rest of her siblings saw them, she wasn't worried about what they thought. It was this feeling that she had that kept her there. The feeling, not just of loving someone, but of being loved in return as well. She hadn't felt it in such a long time, and it was so much better than anyone could have thought.

"Thanks Linc..." She said sitting up, now more calm as well.

"Were you able to think of anything?" Lola asked.

"Not yet, but I will..."

"How do you know?"

"I've got a good feeling..."


Just a few minutes later everyone left the table to go do whatever they wanted to do. Lori tore the sign off of her room, Lola started writing invitations, and Luan started getting rid of her April Fool's day plans, which to her surprise, were much worse than she originally thought they were. "Wow, was I really this bad?"

"Yes Luan..." Her roommate replied from her bunk, not missing a beat. Luan didn't even realize that she was talking out loud. "You lose control when it comes to April Fool's day. Half of us could have been sent to the hospital this year! You're lucky that that didn't happen..."

Luan felt sick with herself. Had she always been like this? What if they had tried to tell her and she just ignored them. A thought suddenly came to her mind. They had always tried to tell her. That was why they locked her in that cage one year. That was why they sent her to that clown camp this year. They were trying to tell her that she was over-doing it by locking her up and sending her away, but she never paid any attention to it, thinking,"Oh, this is just who I am!" It took until now to realize that if "Who you are" is hurting other people, especially those who you claim to love, then your idea of "Who you are" needs to change.

"Oh my gosh... I'm so sorry... I didn't ever want to hurt you guys, I just wanted to have some fun..."

"Luan, it's okay." Luna said, suddenly realizing the effects of what she said. "We've all treated each other badly in the past, for goodness sake, I kicked all of you out of the family band trying to impress Mick Swagger and made dad cry."

"But you haven't nearly gotten anyone killed yet. I almost did with this year's April Fool's."

Luna sighed, trying to think of something to cheer her sister up. It was partially her fault that Luan felt like this, so she had to say something. "You may be right about that..." that only made Luan sulk even more, "but you're doing something about it, right?"

Luan looked back up at her sister, who had jumped down from her bunk and was now standing in front of her. "Yeah, I guess."

"How about this dude. If you really want to prove that you're going to change, then rip up those papers you're holding."

"Right now?"

"Right now!"

Luan looked down at the papers and audibly gulped. As terrible as these plans were for next year, they were just so good. They were her best ones yet. She couldn't just get rid of them. Maybe she could save them for other people. People who weren't her family. People that would be more willing to take this kind of thing. But was it worth it? If she did keep these plans, how was she going to know for sure that she wasn't going to use them on her family? Only when the time came would she know for sure. But even so, was it worth the risk? Some of them had almost been hospitalized this year and next year was planned to be even worse. Would she be able to live with herself if she did hurt one of them? Or even worse, kill them?

"I'm waiting..."

Luan finally closed her eyes and grabbed the top two edges of the few sheets of paper she was holding. Then, taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and started pulling each edge in opposite directions, causing the papers to begin ripping right down the middle. And then, it was finished. The papers had been ripped all the way down to the bottom, completely torn in half. Now less anxious, she stacked the two ripped halves and turning it ninety degrees, ripped it in half again, repeating the process until there were nothing but small leaflets scattered on the floor of their room.

Luna smiled at her, "I knew you could do it sis," and she jumped back up onto her bunk. Luan looked down at the shreds of paper and began wondering to herself why that was so hard. It could not have been easier. So why did it feel so hard? Luan was not normally the type of person to wonder these things, but recent circumstances have totally made everything different. She was still going to be the same, fun-loving prankster she always had been, just in a different way now.


The twins were both doing two completely different things, as per the norm. Lana was outside climbing the tree in the backyard since it was dry and there was no mud to play in and Lola was rehearsing for her most recent pageant, which was coming up in just a few days. Lana, who had climbed up the tree quite a fair distance, was looking into their room, watching Lola practice for whatever it was she had going on. It wasn't all that appealing, but then, Lola did something that caught her eye. She couldn't quite make out what it was, so she shimmied along the branch she was on so as to get a closer look, right as she came close to the end, the branch snapped and dropped from below her as she let out a loud shriek. She was able to grab onto another branch to stop herself from falling all the way to the ground, but wasn't able to lift herself back up to a stable position.

Naturally, Lola heard the shriek and went over to the window to see what was going on. Opening it, she looked around and was about to tell her twin sister to quiet down, but then saw her dangling from what looked like a quite flimsy branch.

"Lana!" She immediately dropped whatever it was she was doing and ran downstairs to get someone to help. She remembered that Lori didn't have the rule about barging into her room anymore and rushed there, only to find it empty. As it had turned out, her and Leni had left to go do some shopping. So she went to the next person's room she thought of, and that happened to be Lincoln. She swung the door open to find him sitting at his desk with his headphones on, typing away at something on his laptop. Her sudden explosive entry startled him and he turned around. Lola ran at him and grabbed his arm, pulling him out the door before he even had the chance to take his headphones off.

"Lola, what's going on?" Lincoln asked, resisting his little sister's tugs.

Still trying to pull him along, she let out in a worried tone, "Lana's gonna fall! Hurry, she's in the backyard!"

"What!?"

Lincoln escaped his sister's grasp and started running downstairs, making his way to the backyard. Once outside, he looked around, and sure enough, Lana was barely hanging onto a branch, that was bending beyond what it should have been. Lana saw her older brother and brightened up a bit, still trying to hang on and pull herself up, to no avail.

Lincoln ran until he was right underneath her and Lola was next to him, just a few feet away. After assessing the situation, Lincoln determined that she would have to let go so he could catch her. "Lana, let go!"

"No way! I can make it back up!" she didn't want to admit it, but just the thought of her falling, even though it wasn't even that far, scared her out of her mind. There was always another way to do it, and Lana was determined to find it, no matter how long it took. But as time ticked on, she found herself more stuck.

"Lana, you have to let go! Lincoln's gonna catch you!"

"Nuh-uh, I can do this!" she said, feigning confidence. But every route she possibly thought of only proved fruitless, there wasn't a branch nearby big enough for her to grab onto, or even jump onto, and the more she looked and didn't find, the more scared she got until finally, the branch started cracking.

"Lana, please let go! You have to trust me! I promise I'll catch you!"

She gulped and looked down at Lincoln who had his arms outstretched, ready to snatch Lana from the air. She knew it was the only way to get down. The branch started cracking louder and finally, there was one that made the entire limb shift, which startled the already scared Lana, making her let go of it. She closed her eyes and screamed as she more rapidly descended, but right before she hit the ground, she felt the soft fabric of Lincoln's shirt sleeve and held tightly onto it as she gently floated into Lincoln's arms. Realizing that she wasn't hurt, she opened her eyes and looked up at the person who was cradling her in his arms, safe and sound.

"You okay?" he asked with a smile. The same smile he gave Lynn just a few hours ago. The same comforting smile that he always used when his sisters were in need. The older of the two twins nodded as she was let down onto the ground.

"Lana! How did that happen?"

"I was watching you do something weird, it wasn't like anything you normally do, but anyway, when I tried getting closer to see what it was, the branch that I was on broke and fell out from under me, but I caught another one."

"You scared me, I thought you were gonna get hurt!"

"I... I did?"

Lola bashfully nodded her head and looked down. After having to watch Lincoln die, the prospect of any of them even getting hurt, especially Lincoln and her twin sister, scared her every time. It always did, but that feeling became significantly amplified recently.

"Aww... Thanks sis..." Lana scrambled over and hugged Lola, which Lola graciously returned.

"This is too good." Lincoln whipped out his phone and brought up the camera to seize the moment as quick as he could.


One would think that Lucy, being someone who thinks about death on a regular basis, wouldn't be bothered too much by the prospect of the death of someone they knew. But thinking about death, and actually seeing someone die are two totally different things. It was something that came as a shock to Lucy. There were plenty of times where she had seen someone die on TV. Those people never actually got hurt. They never felt anything from watching someone feign death, and Lucy knew this. But she also knew that it was a fairly accurate representation of how someone would die in real life. She never even considered the fact, however, that she would ever express such emotions, even if it was a family member.

"What'cha doin' luce?"

"I'm pondering death again..."

"Oh... well, I'll be back in a minute. Linc said he needed help with something."

"You don't need to tell me..."

Lynn almost left the room, but stopped in her tracks just before closing the door. She looked back over at Lucy. She wasn't doing anything. She wasn't sitting up meditating, she wasn't talking to Edwin, she was just laying in her bed, not even on her pillow. Her head was nearly against the wall and her feet were falling over the edge of the bed, dangling just above the space between the floor and the mattress. Lynn made her way back into the room and closed the door.

"I thought you needed to help Lincoln with something?"

"I did, I just wanna... make sure you're doing okay first."

Suspicious of Lynn's behavior, Lucy asked, "Why? This isn't something that you've ever done except when you want something."

"Normally you would be totally right, but not this time. I mean, c'mon, we both just saw our only brother die..."

That string of words being said audibly pricked both of them more than thought it would. Lucy sighed and Lynn walked over to the bed, sitting down on it next to Lucy. Lucy didn't mind it all that much as long as Lynn didn't start talking, but they both knew that wasn't going to be an an option. So the goth girl laid in bed, enjoying the silence while it lasted. Lynn decided to speak up.

"What's bothering you? Is it what I think it is?"

Lucy nodded, sat up, and made herself comfortable, laying back on some pillows that she had rested against the headboard. Lynn wasn't the best with words so Lucy was not expecting anything helpful to come out of her mouth. But to her surprise, that was not the case.

"I don't blame you honestly, I think all of us are going to be acting different for a while, especially towards Linc... He's probably gonna hate us for a while... heh..." Lynn paused for a moment to chuckle, thinking about how funny it's going to be to see him annoyed. "But it's not like we all have to change who we are... I'm still gonna love sports, Luna's still gonna love music, and Leni's still gonna love clothes! We're just... going in a different direction is all... It took that dream for us to realize that we could take a different path, granted a more difficult path, but for sure more rewarding! Trust me, I know all about things that are rewarding!"

While Lynn wasn't exactly fluent with her words, it for sure helped Lucy with her mood. It made sense to her. She didn't have to stop being who she was just because change was all of a sudden required of them. She could change her attitude and general behavior while staying a goth.

"Well... Linc's probably been waiting for me for a while now. I better get back to helping him."


"Leni, why did you want to go to the mall again?"

"We totes need to get Lincoln a new wardrobe! Like, the same orange polo every day is soooooo boring..."

"Leni, don't you literally think we should ask Lincoln what he wants first?"

"I already did! He said he like, didn't care as long as it was orange!"

"Alright, what are we getting?"

"I've got a plan to make Lincoln, like, the most fashionable kid in school!"

Lori was totally baffled by this. Lincoln was never one for fashion. When Leni modeled him for dresses, Lori could tell that he was not too excited and sometimes even felt so much pity for him that she told Leni she needed Lincoln for something, just so that she wouldn't have to see him go through all that. What Leni was doing was harmless of course, but even so, Lori still had her doubts.

"So what exactly are we getting?"

"We're here make sure Lincoln gets his clothes silly!"

"Yes Leni, I know that, but I thought you were gonna make them..."

"I am, but I can't make anything without fabric. Besides, I need to get him some new shoes to go with his new outfit!"

"Leni," Lori sighed. "What if Lincoln doesn't want new clothes?"

"Oh, I've already taken that into account. I know for sure he's gonna like it."

"If you insist..." Lori played along with Leni's game. As right as Leni was about Lincoln needing new clothes, she wasn't sure if this was the right direction to go in.


"Well Linky?!" Leni said in a very drawn out way. "How do you like it?"

Lincoln looked at himself in the mirror. The diagonally striped charcoal/black sports jacket went surprisingly well with the white dress shirt with just a hint of orange hue and striped orange tie. Not to mention he totally pulled off the jeans with that coat and shirt combo. He was gonna have to figure out how to tie the tie the right way, but to Lincoln, and everyone else too, he looked better than he had in a long time.

"Wow Leni! You've outdone yourself this time..."

"I was skeptical at first Leni, but once again, you have proven me wrong."

"You made this for him Leni?"

"Of course! Only the best for my little Linky!"

"Lincoln, you still haven't told her what you think!"

"I... I don't know what to say... It all fits perfectly and it looks awesome! I really like it!"

"Oh! Wait, I forgot something!" Leni rushed back to her room to go get something. All of the others looked back in curiosity, wondering what Leni could have possibly forgotten. Their question was soon answered as Leni rushed back with a white fedora with three thin black stripes running around the base of it.

"Put this on. Then it will be perfect!"

Lincoln took the fedora from Leni's hands and put it on, then looked in the mirror. He thought he looked amazing. He started considering wearing this on the first day back to school.

"Wow... Thanks a lot Leni!"

"Oh, it's nothing. I've got a few more planned actually."

"Really? I'd love to see 'em!"

"I must admit, Lincoln does look quite astounding, but actually, I require Lincoln's presence. There is something that I require of him and only him due to the fact that he is a biological male."

"Okay Lisa, you didn't need to say that much."

"Please Lincoln, come into my room."

"Okay Lis," Lincoln was wondering what Lisa could possibly have to say. She said he was fine so he assumed it wasn't anything bad. It still made him wonder though. What kind of thing so desperately needed his attention right now?

"Have a seat Lincoln," he sat down on the edge of the young scientist's bed. Lisa was scribbling away at some papers, but was obviously not too involved in them, as she started chatting with Lincoln about the dream. "I was actually quite surprised to find that the Dream-Caster used our memories as well as all of the information on the internet available to produce a world that looks exactly like ours."

"I guess that's pretty cool, but why did it choose the... umm..."

"Scenario?"

"Yeah, why did it choose a scenario where I died?"

"Technically, it didn't. I coded it to where it had two different main categories to choose from. A generally positive dream, or a generally negative one. It then chose at random one of those categories, which happened to be the negative one, then it took all of the current information that was provided to it via the internet and all of our brains and then produced the scenario that was most likely to bring us the most sadness."

"Why did you even give it an option?"

"Because I wasn't expecting it to give us the most positive or negative dream possible. I was under the assumption that it was just going to be either kind of positive or kind of negative. Every test result previous to this one proved my theory, but now I'm going to have to re-assess everything about it."

Suddenly, Lisa straightened her papers and walked over to Lincoln, standing right in front of him.

"What are those for?"

"These, are the real reason I asked you here," she said with a more hushed voice.

"Wait, all that stuff about the dream? That wasn't it?"

"No. I was just rambling on until our siblings stopped eavesdropping on us. And according to the video camera I just installed outside my room, it appears that they are all gone."

"Oh... okay... so what was it you needed to tell me?" With that question, Lisa's expression got much more serious.

"Remember how I said you weren't leaving in the near future?"

"Yeah?"

"It wasn't an accident that I used those words."


Whoa... Anyway, my big announcement is that this story will be going on Hiatus for a while so that I can finish "Kidnapped," and it's because this story is going on Hiatus that I wanted to finish the Getting back into Rhythm part of the story, which is also the reason this chapter is longer than the others. So yes, on the next chapter of this story I will finally begin on each individual sisters' chapters, starting with Lisa. She's going to explain what's going on with Lincoln and then some other stuff is going to happen. But for now, you're going to have to wait! I will be finishing "Kidnapped" before coming back to this one.