I'm super sorry. The issues I've been struggling with were a bit more difficult than I thought. I promised updates by the end of January and here I am at the end of February, for Pete's sake. (I wonder who the Pete who's sake we talk about was?)
Not making any promises this time, but I AM back to work. I've actually got an idea for a Terraria one-shot I plan to work on. That and the final chapter of this are in development, and then I'll HOPEFULLY kick my rear end back into my ongoing series. Sorry again.
A while later, he couldn't tell how long, Lincoln began hearing voices around him. He opened his eyes and found himself on the couch. Around him, nine girls of varying ages were frantically talking among themselves. All but one, who turned to face him.
"Quiet, siblings!" Lincoln heard in a familiar, lisped voice. "He is waking!"
After regaining his focus from his SECOND black-out of the day, Lincoln finally saw who was speaking.
"L-L-LISA!" he shouted as he jumped up.
It was Lisa, yes. But as with all of his other sisters on this crazy day, she had changed. Once nearly as tall as their mother, this Lisa was now the shortest in the whole group.
"Lisa, why are you… Why is Leni… What's going on!?"
Lincoln looked out at the crowd. Leni and Lucy, he already encountered. Now he saw the twins as well, also shrunken from their normal teenage form. In their place, he saw more grown-up versions of Luna and Luan. Lynn also looked taller, though not as drastically.
Behind them all was a very concerned looking Lori. Lincoln had to shake his head, remembering that, WHATEVER is happening, that's his own sister.
"I'm sorry, Lincoln." Lisa said. "It would appear that your stress has caused you to collapse. Our Father went to go fetch Mother, and should be home soon."
"By the way, he said when you're all better, you're grounded for dropping that F bomb." Lynn added, though she almost sounded proud of him when she said that.
Lincoln jumped up. He looked at them all, his confusion growing.
"Look, I don't CARE if I'm grounded!" he yelled out. "WHAT IS GOING ON!? Why are your ages all mixed up!?"
Everyone looked toward Lisa, expecting an answer from her.
"He appears to be in some sort of delirium." She replied. "Lincoln, tell me what the problem appears to be?"
"ARE YOU KIDDING!?" he yelled again. "YOU AGED BACKWARDS 12 YEARS! LUAN AND LUNA SWITCHED PLACES WITH THE TWINS! LORI IS HO-… I MEAN, SHE'S 17! LILY IS…"
Lincoln stopped as soon as he said that name. He looked around frantically, counting the girls in order. Lisa, Lola, Lana, Lucy, Lynn, Luan, Luna, Leni, Lori…
"LILY! Where's Lily!?"
At this point, Lincoln completely lost it. He jumped up, pushing most of the girls down as he ran towards the parents' bedroom. He grabbed the knob and pushed, slamming it open as hard as he could.
The room was dark and empty. The area that was supposed to be Lily's now had just a dresser. Lincoln ran to the closet where her equipment was kept, and found… ties? Dad threw those out YEARS ago!
"Guys, where is she!? What happened to her!?"
He ran out of the room, planning to run upstairs and raid Lisa's room. However, before he could, he felt himself get knocked over. Lynn was now on top of him, pinning him down.
"Lincoln, stop! You're going crazy!" she yelled out.
"Yeah, dude. Lily's with Mom, it's all good!" Luna added. "Why are you so super-freaked over her?"
Hearing that calmed him down a bit. Yeah, obviously Lily was with Mom… Everything's fine…
"Wait, no, it's NOT fine!" Lincoln shouted out again, finishing his thought aloud. "I STILL don't get why everyone looks all different!"
Lynn sighed as she stood up, pulling Lincoln's arm to get him up with her.
"I literally thought Luan would be the first to go completely crazy…" Lori said. Luan began to laugh.
"Hahaha… Hey!"
"AHEM!"
Everyone turned their heads to Lisa as she cleared her throat.
"I believe it would be best for me to analyze Lincoln's well-being in privacy. Lynn, if you would be so kind as to help him up to his room, I will stay with him there to take a closer look."
Lynn nodded as she began walking with Lincoln up the stairs. The boy didn't fight, hoping he could more easily convince Lisa without everyone else around. He looked around as they reached the second floor, but nothing else seemed too different.
"Ok, Loco Lincoln." Lynn said as she opened his door and led him in. "Just sit down and let Lisa do her sciencey crap on you. You're supposed to be my practice partner for my 2nd black belt!"
Before Lincoln could even reply, Lynn jogged out of the room. He sighed and sat on the bed, waiting a few moments before Lisa entered and closed the door behind them.
"Lisa!" he said, standing up. "Listen, you have to believe me, something's wro-"
"I know."
Lincoln's eyes went wide as Lisa stated that so flatly.
"Wh… What do you mean?"
"I ran some tests on you while you were unconscious, and verified the results just now. You are not crazy, Lincoln. Something IS very wrong."
"Well, tell me what happened so we can fix it!" he shouted out.
Lisa adjusted her glasses. "It isn't that simple. You see, nothing has changed among US, Lincoln. The alteration is YOU."
"You are not the Lincoln of this dimension…"
Lincoln didn't reply right away. He just took it in. Lisa… she wouldn't joke about something like that! And it would make sense… He's seen alternate dimensions in Ace Savvy comics all the time. Ultimate Ace Savvy, Ace Savvy 2099, Ace Savvy Noir… Who's to say that can't all be true?
"So… I'm from another dimension?" he asked meekly. "Then... How did I get here!? How do I get back!? Where is-"
Lisa held up her hand, silencing him.
"Please, please, give me time to explain." She said. "To start with: I believe the cause of your appearance here is due to the Lincoln of OUR dimension."
Lisa described to Lincoln, in excruciatingly slow detail, the creation of a watch that could allow the wearer to open a portal to another dimension. The Lincoln of THIS dimension wanted to see what it would be like to have all brothers, so she found that dimension, and programmed the watch to send him there.
"The watch was still new, and I required you… or rather, our Lincoln, to test it… But it appears that two issues have come up."
"One, instead of directing him back here after his trip, it appears to have malfunctioned and sent him to another dimension. From your testimony, it sounds as though this dimension is one in which the order of our birth was reversed, with Lori being the youngest and Lily the oldest..."
"And two, the issue of your presence here." She continued. "The watch is currently designed to work by allowing the wearer to 'borrow' the body of their counterpart in said universe. However, when it malfunctioned, it appeared to, instead, send his entire body to your dimension. And with nowhere else to place YOU, the watch sent you to where it found an opening… Here."
Lincoln didn't answer right away, expecting another long speech. After Lisa remained silent for a while, he spoke.
"Ok, so, you can send me back, can't you!? Just whip up another watch and let me go home, and get your brother back… right?"
Lisa remained silent. This was even worse than hearing her talk for an hour.
"I'm afraid it isn't so simple…" she finally said. "To try and have you hop into the place of another dimension-hopper who took yours could cause several issues. You and he may even find yourself in an endless loop, each trying to replace each other for eternity!"
"As of now, we have two options. Either we wait and see if Lincoln, or perhaps the Lisa of your universe, can get him back here, which should send you back as well. Or I must make a watch and send another person to your dimension, find Lincoln, and try to bring both back… But between making the watch and finding the calibrations to your dimension, that could take days, weeks, perhaps even MONTHS in the worst case!"
Lincoln looked completely distraught, as Lisa expected. If only she was any good at social cues, she could try to cheer him up.
"What… What am I supposed to do until then?" he asked. "My family, my friends… Lily… They need me!"
Lisa waked up and patted Lincoln on the back… of his leg.
"Knowing our Lincoln, I imagine he has already made contact with your Lisa. With two genius minds working on this anomaly, I feel one of us will find a fast solution! Especially if my intellect only raised with age." she said, doing her best to sound confident. "In the meantime, I suggest you prepare, in case you must be here for a while… I imagine, besides ages, much is the same."
Lincoln nodded. It's not fitting in HERE he worried about, it was getting back home. If he had to wait, he could easily fill Other-Lincoln's shoes…
Just as, hopefully, he could fill his…
Lincoln went to the door, opening it and preparing to head downstairs.
"Lincoln, wait."
He turned around as Lisa followed behind him.
"I should ask that you not speak of this to anyone else, to avoid causing distress to them as well. But before your silence, I have one question to ask."
Lincoln shrugged. "Sure, go ahead."
"You seem to have a strong fixation on your oldest sibling, Lily. While our Lincoln most certainly loves our Lily, I must ask… What are the circumstances surrounding your Lily? Surely a 17 year old doesn't require a large amount of concern?"
Lincoln sighed. The one thing he hoped she wouldn't bring up… He pondered for a moment. Should he tell her? He worried about Other-Lincoln inevitably learning the truth, and he might bring it up whenever he came home.
…No. Even through Lisa's stoic mindset, it would cause her concern, ESPECIALLY towards her own Lily, since this one doesn't seem to have…
"I'm just… really close to her, is all. I depend on her a lot." He replied. Afterwards, he left the room to go downstairs.
Lisa stood silently and watched. She took note of how he acted when that topic arose. Heading to her room, she opened up her scientific journal and began writing.
"Considering his sullen response to questioning about Lily, I find that the Lincoln from Dimension C may hold valuable info regarding my own youngest sibling. However, further pressing would cause distress to Lincoln-C, and I cannot in good conscious force such information from him. Development of multi-universal surveillance is being taken into consideration."