Thanks again to everyone for reading this story. I think after this I'm going to start putting Author's Notes exclusively at the end of the chapter instead of both. This chapter is going to Focus on Lynn, Lola, and Luna, especially Luna. No spoilers. I really hope you all enjoy, here's the next chapter of "Requiem for a Loud - Fan made ending"
Post Awakening
Chapter 4 - The show will go on
What was wrong with her. She should have been over it by now. It had been over a day and there still wasn't any progress made. "It's nothing." she told herself. "Just gotta keep training and it will eventually go away."
What had happened with Lucy the previous day wasn't something that Lynn was expecting. Lucy was always gloomy and thinking about death, but that was something else, and it was starting to affect her psyche too. She thought that if she kept hitting the bag harder then it would just go away, but it was still there, lingering, festering. It was going to become something that she wasn't going to be able to handle if she didn't push it away, but for some reason, she couldn't. No amount of training or practice could make it leave.
The sun had finally come over the horizon and was now casting diagonal rays of light through the tree onto the ground. Lynn had been out here since the crack of dawn. After going for a quick jog, she went to the backyard and began wailing on the punching bag. She had been out here training for at least an hour now and didn't show any signs of letting up.
"Ugh!" Lynn groaned as she threw her hands up. What was it that was making her feel this way? Angry with herself, she ran over and kicked a soccer ball that was lying motionless on the ground. It bounced off of the side of the house and whizzed back, hitting her square in the nose, knocking her over as well. It didn't hurt, at least, not that bad, but now her nose was bleeding and she had to go inside to take care of it.
As she was walking back to the house, she pinched her nose to stop any blood from coming out. How did this happen again? Oh yeah, she was angry at herself for letting Lucy's gloomy mood get to her, so she kicked the soccer ball and hurt herself. And to top it all off, now she was back to being angry again. At least the pain provided her with temporary relief from her thoughts. How much longer was she going to be like this?
Walking into the kitchen, she turned right. Up in the cabinet closest to the refrigerator, there was a plastic box filled with medicine, bandages, and other items that first aid may require. She opened the cabinet and brought the box down onto the table with one hand, still holding her nose with the other hand.
"Lets see," she said in a nasally voice, digging through the box. "Vitamins? No... Ibuprofin? Maybe... Spongebob Band-aids? Heck no! Ah, there it is."
Lynn took out a small bottle with sharpie written on it. "Nasal Spray for Nosebleeds" After she took off the cap, she unplugged her nose and jammed the narrow end into her nose, giving the bottle a good squeeze. After that, she stuffed some tissues in her nose and began her way upstairs.
"What happened this time?" Lola asked from the living room snarkily.
"Stupid ball bounced off the tree and hit me in the nose," she replied in a nasally voice. Wait. Why did she say the tree? The ball bounced off of the house. Was she really that upset with herself?
"Ha! Can't say I didn't see that coming."
Lynn rolled her eyes and ran back upstairs to her room. With the paper towels still stuffed up her nose, she took her pitching net out of her closet and grabbed one of the baseballs that was sitting on the floor. She threw and she kept throwing, hitting the target nearly perfectly each time. Anyone that didn't know much about sports would watch in amazement at her pinpoint accuracy. Even some people that would consider themselves knowledgeable about sports would be impressed, but not Lynn. There wasn't much to show for it, but Lynn knew that she had a slight hitch at that moment. The ball would never hit dead center, but rather, just a few millimeters to the left. Something that was unnoticeable to the untrained eye, but to Lynn, it was obvious.
The hitch was a result of the funk that she was in from talking to Lucy. Of course. This didn't happen on a regular basis, or even at all. Not just the hitch in her shoulder, but how she felt at the moment. Whenever Lynn and Lucy talked to each other, even about something serious like this, both of them always ended up going their merry ways, not worrying about whatever it was. But this time was different. She didn't know how or why it was different, but there was something that was able to make her tell.
It wasn't because of the dream. If it was, she would have been feeling this way before Lucy's chat. It wasn't because she hadn't had breakfast yet, although that probably would help. So what was it?
"Lynn? Are you okay?"
"AHH!" She jumped and swiveled around to see Lincoln standing in her doorway. "Oh gosh, I thought you were Lucy!"
"Sorry," he smirked, rubbing the back of his head. "So, other than hitting yourself in the nose, whatcha been up to?"
"How did you know I hit myself in the nose?"
"I was finishing up a popsicle and happened to glance outside right when you did. It was hilarious, I was hoping Luan caught it on video. So anyway!"
"Oh." She couldn't let him know that something was up, "just training. I technically missed out on three weeks worth of practice because of you!"
"Well whaddaya say I join you?"
"Would you!?" she exclaimed. Why was she so excited about this all of a sudden? What was there to be gained from having him practice with her? More importantly, why did her funk suddenly go away? It was like it was never there in the first place. "Come on! Let's go!" she grabbed his hand and dragged him to the backyard.
Was it really just because she wanted to hang out with Lincoln? Why? Why did something so seemingly inconsequential have such a huge impact on how she was feeling? Maybe that was just it. Maybe the talk she had with Lucy made her want to do something with Lincoln, and the reason that she was feeling so down was simply because of the fact that she hadn't been able to yet? But there was no way that it could really be that simple! She talked with Lucy and got down, in a funk, but then hanging out with Lincoln fixes the problem? It didn't make any sense! And yet, at the same time, it did make sense. She was feeling down because she wasn't getting to hang out with her little brother. But now that she was doing just that, whatever darkness she had in her heart melted away. She was with Lincoln, and that was all that mattered to her at that moment.
They started off playing football, then went to baseball and kickball. Such an intense practice session like that was normal for Lynn, but Lincoln, despite sometimes being able to keep up with her, had to stop and rest every so often. Lincoln went inside for a few moments, claiming that was just getting a drink of water, but it seemed to be taking much longer. He was back outside before too long though and they continued playing again. As they were passing a soccer ball back and forth to each other, Lincoln asked a question.
"So, Lynn."
"Yeah?
"Remember how in the dream, when you said you wanted to stay in my room more often?"
Lynn recalled that memory fondly and a radiant look briefly crossed her face before she forced it to turn expressionless. "Yeah? What about it?"
Lincoln shrugged and said, "I don't know. I thought maybe, even though the circumstances have changed, you would still want to do that?"
Lynn blushed a little bit at this. She didn't know how to respond to that. Sure it would be great if they could do that more often, but the whole reason she wanted to do that was to spend as much time with him as possible before he passed. Now that he was alive, what was the point? Why would she want to do that anymore?
Why wouldn't she?
Lynn was standing there, thinking while Lincoln was waiting for an answer. Finally, she looked up at him and nodded. "That would be nice."
She wasn't always one to show her soft side, but when she did, no one ever let her live it up, except Lincoln. He was the only one who actually enjoyed seeing that side of Lynn. The side of her that she didn't show in public, sometimes not even in private. She lived her entire life trying to be the tough girl, but even she needed a break from that now and then, and hanging out with Lincoln a few nights a month would not only help with that, but it was also even more time being spent with her brother, not just her brother though, her favorite sibling.
This wasn't just for Lynn though. Lincoln also had his motives. He had learned more about Lynn than he thought he ever would and he wanted to know more. He wanted to know more about all of his siblings. He already knew them all fairly well, but he wanted to know more than just what kinds of things they obviously liked, and this was his way of doing that.
"Stupid Lynn, always getting herself hurt." Lola muttered to herself as she was sitting on the living room couch. Lynn had just rushed up to her room with a bloody paper towel in her nose. She deserved it for being so stupid with her training.
Like the others, Lola had began reflecting on the events of the previous few days while vaguely paying attention to a rerun of "The Dream Boat." Everything happened so quickly. One minute, she was bawling her eyes out in her room, terrified that Lincoln wasn't going to be there anymore, and the next, she woke up in the basement, as if none of it had ever happened. None of it did ever happen. But it felt like it did.
Why did Lisa have to create that stupid machine in the first place. A princess shouldn't have to deal with something like that. But was she really a princess? What did they do in her eyes? Were the princesses in the television shows all snobby and got whatever they wanted? Just like Lola? Sometimes. But thinking even more about it, she realized that nobody liked those kinds of princesses. The ones who get whatever they want just because they can. She didn't want to believe it, but she knew that if she was a real princess, she would be one of those. A Spoiled Rotten, Good-for-nothing waste of space.
She didn't think she was too terrible though. There were occasions where she helped everyone out. She convinced everyone to pitch in to get that red underwear for Lincoln, despite the fact that she thought it was weird. Her and Lana, despite being nearly polar opposites, worked together quite well. There was also the time when she baked cookies for everyone for letting them down in the reading competition. She had her moments, but even she had to admit that they were few and far between. Thinking about it even further, even those spoiled rotten princesses in the movies did nice things for people, but only when it benefited them in some way.
How often did Lola do that? How often did she do things for people only because it benefited her somehow? Did she ever do nice things for people when she didn't prosper from it somehow? Even the time that she bought Lincoln's favorite red underwear was because she knew that it wasn't fair that he couldn't do his thing and the rest of them could. She only did it to ease her own conscience. If she had no sense of guilt, she wouldn't have felt like it was necessary to do what she did. The more she thought about it, the more often she crossed off of her list moments where she thought she was being nice, each one of them ending up only being because she had something to gain from it. She slowly began spiraling into a bout of self depreciation the more she let herself dwell on it, eventually getting to the point where she couldn't even look up anymore.
Lola was only ever nice when she knew she was getting something in return or when she felt guilty, and it made her feel terrible.
The sound of Lincoln and Lynn running down the stairs briefly distracted her from her thoughts, even startling her a little bit. She suddenly felt guilty for talking the way she did to Lynn. She wasn't doing anything except what she loved. It wasn't the first time she had gotten hurt, heck, even Lola got hurt sometimes doing some of the more advanced ribbon routines. So what made her act out in such a way towards Lynn? Towards Lana? Towards all of them, especially Lincoln?
Lola turned off the television, now utterly disappointed with herself. With her head drooping low, she jumped off of the couch and made her way back to her own room. If she was mad, it was only at herself. Not even a tea party with her favorite stuffed animals would help now. It wouldn't be the first time she thought about this, about how terrible of a sister she was. But every time, she managed to convince herself that she wasn't, that no matter what kinds of things she put the rest of them through, that she was still a good sister. No matter how many times she blackmailed them, threatened them, and even actively fought them for her own selfish desires, she thought that she was a good sister. But this was different. Every time that thought came to her mind, it was promptly pushed away by other memories of her own selfishness.
She couldn't hold it in anymore. Every little thought that passed through her mind was taking its toll, constantly making her feel worse than before. And Lola, known as one of the toughest ones in the house, broke down and cried.
It wasn't her physical appearance that made her seem tough. She was only six years old, anyone could take her on physically in a heartbeat if they wanted to. But it was her knowledge of her available resources paired with her ability to lead and flawlessly execute plans that made her more intimidating than even Lori sometimes. She was considered tough not just because she knew exactly what to do and how to do it. Oh no. She knew that if she broke down in front of any of her siblings, the intimidation factor would dissipate into nothing, completely ruining whatever dominance she had established in the Loud House Hierarchy.
But when she realized how terrible she had been to her siblings because of this, it was like a switch was flipped. All of a sudden, she didn't want that anymore. She didn't want to be seen as intimidating, at least not by her siblings. She wanted to be seen as a sister they could trust, someone they could count on, and her reputation hadn't exactly allowed that for her. She wasn't allowed into the Siblings' secrets club because she couldn't be trusted. She had to do something about it. She had to change the way that they thought about her, but in order to do that, she first had to change herself, and that was the hard part.
Lincoln came back into the house for a glass of water. There was plenty of noise coming from the entire house, but from one room, there was a strange lack of silence. Lola and Lana's room. Lana was outside playing in the mud, but Lola was nowhere to be seen. She wasn't in the kitchen and she wasn't in the living room. Unless she was in the bathroom, which wasn't likely, she had to have been in her own room. But what was she doing in there that required complete silence. He walked up the stairs to find the door to their room slightly opened, and inside he could hear sniffling.
Lola heard him push the door open and she quickly tried to compose herself before turning around. When she did, it was clear that she had been crying as the mascara was running down her face. She didn't notice it. Instead of saying something, he immediately went over to her, picked her up, and hugged her, taking her by surprise. Was it really that obvious that she was crying? It didn't matter. She wrapped her arms around him as well, and resumed her crying. He had no idea what this was about, but he knew that he needed to be there for her. Lynn was tough, she could wait. Lola, despite the way she acted sometimes, was still just a six year old girl. A six year old girl who, just over a day ago, watched her brother die. She needed someone, and she was glad that someone was him.
Lola held on tightly to her elder brother as the tears fell down her face. How was she going to tell him why she was doing this? Was he going to understand? Was he finally going to snap at her? Or was he just going to brush it off like nothing and try to blame himself as usual? She wasn't going to let him do the latter. No matter how hard he pushed, she was going to insist that he didn't do anything.
Lincoln sat down next to her on the bed after she had calmed down some more. He began stroking her soft blonde hair as her sniffling slowed down. He was waiting for her to say something, but she never did. Figures. He didn't mind asking her though.
"So, why were you crying?"
She didn't respond for a few seconds, but after sniffing one more time, she finally replied. "I've been such a mean sister to you and everyone else. I thought that this whole time I was a good sister to you guys, but, I can't think of anything that I've done where I was just being nice."
"Oh, that's not true," he scoffed. "You've done tons of things for us, you baked us those cookies, you bought me that really nice red pair of underwear..."
"But I only did those things because I felt like I had to..." she retorted. "I only made the cookies because I felt like I owed you guys for making us lose that reading competition. And your underwear? I only bought those because it was totally unfair to you. Even I know better than to be unfair to someone."
Lincoln pondered for a moment as Lola's head drifted to his shoulder. Tears were beginning to leak out of her eyes now. Who was he to say that she wasn't thinking that when she did those things. He wouldn't dare tell her that she was lying even if she was, so what could he do now? Not to mention he couldn't just tell her to quit it, because not only would that not work, but she would probably just feel worse about herself. If he could blame himself for it, he would, but none of them had been letting him do that recently and he assumed Lola was going to do the same. How was he going to fix this? She was only six, why was she even thinking about this kind of thing in the first place?
Why was she thinking about that in the first place?
"Why does a six year old girl need to be thinking about what kind of a sister she is anyway?" he said out loud. She looked up at him with interest. "If you ask me, you're too young to even be worrying about that kind of thing. Don't get me wrong, you always need to be good no matter what you're doing. But you shouldn't be worrying about what you've done before. Leave the worrying about being a good sibling to the bigger kids, and you just worry about being the best Lola Loud you can be. It's okay if you were mean to us before, you're only six. As long as you're trying to be a good sister, that's enough for me. Okay?"
She reflected on his words before wiping the tears away from her face, taking her mascara with it. Slowly, she nodded her head.
"Good. Now, I'm gonna go play with Lynn some more. If you want, we can have a tea party after I'm done."
"Yes, definitely!" she replied with a big smile.
"That's the Lola I know," he said. "Well, you better make preparations! This is going to be one heck of a tea party!"
She gasped, "you're right! I need to invite the guests, make sure we have cookies and a table set up! There's so much to do!"
"I'll be back in a little bit, okay?"
Lincoln left the room with Lola giddily preparing for her next tea party. He was glad that she was happy. She had never told anyone, but he knew that she was always so worried with being accepted. The whole incident where she blackmailed them was more than enough proof for Lincoln. If Lisa wasn't so busy with science, she would have noticed as well. Really, that was all that Lola wanted. Lincoln was just the means to help her feel that way. And if she was happy, then so was he.
That night, noise was coming from all ends of the house. Lola had invited all of her sisters and Lincoln of course to her, what she called, "sibling exclusive party." None of her stuffed animals had been invited this time and at first Lola felt kind of guilty because they were always at Lola's tea parties, but she quickly got over it. Everyone was enjoying the tea and cookies that Lola had made, except for two of them. One was Lori. She claimed she wasn't feeling too good and wanted to stay in her room for the night. The other was Luna. She didn't give a reason for not coming, she just didn't show up.
Luna didn't even notice that all of her other siblings, excluding Lori, were in Lola and Lana's room, having a tea party. She was too focused on practicing this song that she had been having trouble with. It had an exceptional sounding chord progression, however it was extremely difficult. It started off easy enough with a G, going into a D, then an E minor. After that was when it became hard. It was composed of weird variations of major/minor seven chords, time changes, barred chords, and it changed to a key that was already difficult to play on the guitar, even when paired with easy chords.
Of course, just like the others, she was also trying her best to cope with what had just happened. Lincoln had just died in front of her less than a few days ago and she was dealing with it in the best way that she knew how. She wanted to believe that what she was going through was different that what the rest of them were, but backing out a little bit and looking at the bigger picture, she realized that they were all practically going through the same thing. To say that any of them were going through something different seemed a bit selfish and arguably pretentious to Luna. She could already imagine the argument in her head if any of them started going on about it.
"No, I was affected the most!"
"No, I was!"
"Don't make me throw this ball at your head!"
"Siblings, I believe it is clear that the person who has been impacted the most by this circumstance, is myself."
"Oh be quiet, you can't even feel emotions."
"Oh, I beg to differ. I am harboring a great feeling of anger right now!"
"Guys, this is literally getting us nowhere..."
Luna didn't want to play the rest of that out in her head and went back to practicing her acoustic guitar. For her, it was easier starting on that and then moving over to her electric if it was needed. Most of these etudes she was playing were for acoustic guitar, but there were some, like the one she was practicing at that moment, that were for an electric guitar. She wouldn't have thought that her private lesson teacher would even let her play her electric guitar in lessons, but she was surprised when he not only let her do just that, but ended up giving her material specifically for electric guitar as well.
When she started running through the piece again, there was nothing but perfection. The first few chords provided little challenge, but as Luna went into the more difficult part of the song, that was when she started getting flustered. On her final run of the night, she came further than she had before, but her fingers cramped up as she switched from one strange chord to another. The pain made her accidentally drop her guitar on the carpet, making a loud thump followed by each of the strings vibrating from the force of the impact and she grabbed her wrist in agony. After stretching out a little bit, she decided it was probably about time to finish practicing for the night, and she put her guitar back in her case under her bed and then flopped back on her bed. She could hear the laughing emanating from the room that the twins occupied and briefly considered joining them, but decided against it. She had too much on her mind anyway, as did all of them.
After changing into her pajamas, she drifted off into a dreamless sleep that didn't last very long. It was close to midnight when she was awoken to the sound of the door to her room opening. She rubbed her eyes and and made out the silhouette of a boy with short hair, a cowlick coming up from the back of it. This seemed oddly familiar.
"Lincoln?" she whispered so as to not wake Luan, who was sleeping quite peacefully.
The door stopped opening, making the hinges groan slightly.
"Luna?" the boy asked. "Are you awake?"
"What are you doing bro?" she asked as she stumbled out of her bed, barely able to make sure Luan stayed asleep, and strolled up to the opening of her room. What was he doing? Did he need something? Whether he did or not, she was his older sister and she needed to make sure that he was okay.
He grabbed Luna's hand and she felt a sense of Deja Vu, "Luna, come with me."
"Where?" she asked him.
"Outside."
This whole situation felt eerily familiar. Like everything that she had done just now had all happened before. She could swear that he came to her room late one night and asked her to come outside with him. She didn't bother to close the door to her room as she led him down the hall and down the stairs. Did he really want to go outside? This late at night? Maybe he just wanted to take a walk around the neighborhood.
Even these thoughts she was having, it was burning in her mind. She knew that this had happened before? Why couldn't she remember it though?
All of the pieces began to fall into place when he took a sharp turn into the kitchen and led her out the back door. It finally clicked when she saw the tent set up in the far back corner of the backyard. Immediately a flood of emotions filled her head, giving her goosebumps all over. They were barely out of the house when she felt a lump begin to grow in her throat. Why was he doing this? Was he trying to make her cry? Because it was working. Tears had already started forming on her face just thinking of that night. It was a night of regrets, of sorrow, of pain. So much pain. Why? Why was he doing this?
She stopped in the middle of the backyard and released her hand from Lincoln's. She nearly turned around right then and was about to go back inside, but something stopped her in her tracks and she remained planted there on the grass, staring at the tent. He turned around and could see the look painted on her face, the tears that were falling from her eyes glistened in the moonlight. Seeing her like that was both mesmerizing and painful. He loved Luna and he thought she always looked beautiful, however, seeing her cry like this made his own heart break and he almost began crying himself.
"Luna," he began with a compassionate smile. "I know what you're thinking. Just trust me." He extended his hand out to her again.
She looked up at him with a desperate look on her face, only to see him looking right back at her, with a pleading smile on his face. It was nothing that she hadn't seen before, but there was so much sincerity in his voice and he just looked so cute smiling like that. Rejecting that would be like rejecting kisses from a puppy. She just couldn't bring herself to do it.
"Okay..." she reluctantly replied and placed her hand in his and they continued walking through the dewy grass.
He guided her into the tent, following his directions to sit on the left side. She sat down on the blankets and he took a seat opposite of her.
"What are you doing this for?" she choked.
"I just want to talk Luna."
She sighed, careful not to raise her voice at him this time. What did he have planned this time? Why did he find it necessary to bring her out here, in the same tent they used in that moment? He reached up to the tent ceiling and grabbed the electric lantern, flipping the switch on it. The light softly illuminated the tent, bright enough to where they could both see, but soft enough to not only not totally blind either one of them, but also to set the mood for what Lincoln had planned. Dimmer lighting was generally more inviting anyway. She looked into her brother's eyes, beautiful as always. His pillows and blankets were scattered about the tent, but there was one thing missing this time. Her guitar.
"Lincoln..."
"I love you Luna. You know that right?"
It started the same as last time. "I know," she replied, more tears beginning to come out of her eyes. "And I love you too linc... but why? Why did you bring us out here?"
She buried her head into her knees and sobbed. Lincoln wanted so badly to explain to her why he brought her out here, to make her stop crying, but seeing her like that made him begin to choke up. "Luna..." he started. "I don't... please stop..."
He crawled over next to her and nuzzled into her shoulder, wrapping his arms around hers, doing whatever he could to make her stop crying. He hated seeing her like this, especially now, considering everything that had happened. Everything that they went through, everything that had happened in the past three weeks had ended up being fake, and it was supposed to be okay now, but it wasn't. Luna was crying and it didn't seem like he could do anything to stop it.
A song popped into Lincoln's head. It wasn't much, but it was worth a shot. He took his head off of her shoulder and sat up.
"Some people long for a life that is simple and planned
tied with a ribbon
Some people won't sail the sea 'cause they're safer on land
to follow what's written..."
Lincoln stopped as he tried to remember the words to the next part. Luna chimed in before he could.
"But I'd follow you, to the great unknown."
The two of them started singing together.
"Off to a world that we call our own"
It worked. Luna had stopped crying. Lincoln had stopped singing, but Luna continued on.
"Hand in my hand and we promised to never let go
We're walking the tightrope
High in the sky
We can see the whole world down below
We're walking the tightrope"
Lincoln smiled as he listened to his sister sing one of her new favorite songs.
"Never sure, never know how far we could fall
But it's all an adventure that comes with a breathtaking view"
They both began singing together again.
"Walking a tightrope with you"
The two of them chuckled briefly as they finished the chorus. Then they looked at each other for a while, it was like they were in their own world with no one to tell them what to do. It didn't take long however for Luna to remember where they were and she looked down at the ground. Lincoln put his arm around her shoulder.
"I didn't really expect you to think much of coming out here with me." he started. "I definitely wasn't expecting you to... break down like you did. But after thinking about it, I realized why you felt so strongly about not wanting to do this."
Luna sighed as she continued looking at the ground. She trusted him to the ends of the Earth, "to the great unknown," and that's why she followed him out here. It wasn't his fault. He didn't know that she would react the way she did. If all it did was remind her of that night, then she wouldn't have reacted the way she did. But it reminded her of so much more than just that. She wasn't just reminded of all the tears that they shed, of the time that they spent together. She was reminded of what she did the night before. How she got drunk, hooked up with a guy much older than her, and then yelled at her family when she thought they didn't get it. There was one other reason though that was above all the others.
"I didn't realize it until just now, but, that night..." Lincoln couldn't help himself anymore. He began tearing up just thinking about it, Luna knew what he was about to say and began tearing up herself. "That night, we were practically saying goodbye."
The two of them both broke into tears and held onto each other. They could have held onto each other all night long, crying, hugging, sleeping. None of it would have stopped them from releasing each other. Even after they stopped crying they were still holding onto each other. Lincoln still had things to say, but would he dare break this up, just because he had to say something? The real question was, why did he need to?
They didn't know how much time had passed. Both of them were laying on the ground, half covered in the blankets, Luna had one arm around her bro and Lincoln was leaning on her shoulder. "I brought you out here because I wanted to tell you something."
Luna looked over at him, "What was it bro?"
"I wanted to tell you that I'd like to do things like this more often."
Luna frowned and felt herself beginning to choke up, "I can't... I'm not going to be able to... every time we go I'll just..."
"But it doesn't have to be like that." Lincoln said. Luna looked at him inquisitively. "I know why you don't want to do it. But there's one thing that makes this different from then." He paused for a moment and smiled. "I'm here Luna, and I'm not leaving."
She looked up at him and saw his smiling face, making her smile too. Progress. Lincoln continued, "not to mention, if we do this often enough, we can make new memories. Ones that aren't just dreams either, real memories. Things that we're going to want to remember."
Luna had to admit that Lincoln was onto something. Not to mention that she didn't think it was a bad idea either that they did stuff like this more often. But she just couldn't help feeling hesitant. She didn't want to have to reimagine the scene that played out in the dream every time she came outside to do this. Even then, just thinking about it put a somber expression on her face. It would be too much. Lincoln could see the hesitant look on her face and his mood soured just slightly.
"It's okay. If you don't want to, then... this will be the last time we do this."
"No..." she responded. Lincoln looked over at her in surprise. She continued staring at the ground. "I want to do this. I want to come out here every so often and chill out with my little bro. I just... don't know if I'll be able to handle it..."
Lincoln understood that. Just a few moments ago, when he realized why she was really crying, he almost regretted coming out here himself. But this was something that he wanted to do. He wanted to spend more time with Luna, learning more about her, about what other kinds of things she likes, just like with Lynn. He wanted to know more.
"We don't have to if you don't want to." He told her.
"No Linc. We can and we will." Despite Luna's hesitancy, she knew that it was a good idea. Even if she didn't want to have to, she would get over it. This was something that Lincoln wanted to do, so it was going to be for him.
"Are you sure?"
Luna took a deep breath and paused for just a moment. "Yes. As a matter of fact, we'll make this like a sleepover. Just you and me bro. Playing card games, shredding the axe, eating junk food..."
"Reading comics?"
"If you want."
Lincoln liked the sound of this. His sister went from gloomy and depressed just thinking about it, to energetic and excited in a matter of minutes. She wasn't faking it either, Lincoln could see the excitement on her face, and it made him all the more excited.
The two of them chatted for hours, making plans for what to do next time and talking about other things as well; music, comics, videogames, anything that was brought up they talked about until they got so tired that they nearly collapsed on each other. Luna was laying on her back with both hands behind her head. Lincoln was lying next to her in a similar position. He started singing again.
"Every night I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake"
Luna recognized the song almost immediately and began singing along with him.
"I think of what the world could be
a vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it's gonna take"
Lincoln fell asleep cuddled up next to Luna. The rocker girl looked straight up with her hands still behind her head. The ceiling of the tent had a see through mesh in it that Luna could see the night sky through. The stars and moon looked beautiful, especially that night. Softly, with Lincoln snoring next to her, she finished the tune.
"A million dreams, for the world we're gonna make"
Okay, I'm going to be honest with you guys, I was not planning the whole scene where Lincoln takes Luna outside at all, and neither was I planning that this chapter would be over 6,500 words! (not including the ANs). I started writing where Lincoln comes and wakes Luna up in the middle of the night and got a bit stuck there, but after a few minutes of thinking, I realized the connection between this and chapter 15 of "Requiem for a Loud" and told myself that this was too perfect of an opportunity to pass up, so I went there. I know it's not at the same level as the actual story itself, but I hope you still liked it anyway.
So, as I said in the Author's note at the beginning of the chapter, from this point forward, if I have something I want to say, which I always do, I will put it down here at the end of the chapter. I will no longer be making Author's notes at the start of each chapter.
As always, thanks to everyone for reading and please leave a review for me, even if you don't have anything good to say. I would rather know if there's something that I'm doing wrong or bad than to continue writing badly. That being said, if you do have criticism, I ask that it would be constructive criticism only. I want to know what I'm doing wrong, but I don't want you just hating on me and bashing my writing. Give me something to improve on. Thanks again!
Song lyrics used were from "Tightrope" and "A Million Dreams" both from "The Greatest Showman."
