Chapter 5: Regret and Reformation.

This chapter is going to deviate from Lincoln's newfound relationship with his new allies and return to The Loud House itself, in order to look at how Lincoln's departure has affected the family. This chapter and the next one take place simultaneously in terms of time and continuity, so I'll upload the next chapter in a few short days since it is essentially a part two to this chapter. Anyway, read and enjoy.

While Lincoln was making new friends, the Louds were dwelling in the loss of their only son and brother. It was simply another one of their typical brawls which triggered it, but that was apparently enough to push Lincoln to his breaking point. So many times had the Loud siblings engaged in conflicts, antagonised each other, schemed or plotted against one another, or wronged each other out of selfish, petty or distasteful motivations. It was clear nobody in the house was perfect, not even close. But they were still good people, and not ones who were so vile that Lincoln being driven away was inevitable… right?

The sisters didn't believe so. After being on the receiving end of a fierce telling off from their parents, the Louds were grounded to their rooms. Each duo lied on their beds in their respective bedrooms, but despite being confined to the individual rooms, they were still easily capable of communicating with each other, thanks to the paper-thin walls of the house.

Lori: "Girls, we have literally messed up, BIG TIME!"

Leni: "Totes. We've lost our brother. I can't believe it. Linky is gone." She painfully muttered as she began to cry.

Luna: "Don't cry sis, we're all to blame for this, but feeling sorry for ourselves won't help bring him back." She pleaded to her upset sister from through the wall.

Lana and Lola: "We want Lincoln back!" They cried, clearly upset and tearful that their only brother had left them.

Lucy: "I know I normally act sad and depressed, but now I really know what those emotions feel like. I miss my brother."

Lynn: "I know, Luce. We all do." She reached over and hugged her sister, trying to comfort her, showing her softer side to her roommate.

Lisa: "Shiblings. As much as I appreciate you are venting your fushtrations over what happened with our male shibling, all this blaming and moping is not productive."

Lori: "Lisa's right. We need to find our brother and bring him home."

Luna: "Yeah, but it's not just a case a finding him, sis. We drove him out. He doesn't wanna be here!"

Luan: "I guess you could say he… uh, I'm too depressed to even think of a pun."

Lynn: "Yeah, well, that's good. Because the last thing we need right now is for you to be making puns. This is serious, Luan!"

Luan: "Hey, I was just trying to lighten the mood for you guys!"

Lynn: "Yeah, but…"

Lori: "Hey, hey, hey! Enough! It's this sort of thing that drove Lincoln away in the first place!"

Leni: "We need to be a lot nicer from now on. All this fighting and shouting is just ruining our family."

Lola: "That's easy for you to say, you're already nice!" the pageant girl protested.

Lana: "What? Are you saying you're not?"

Lola then realised what her last statement just implied, and then quickly took an aggressive tone in order to argue against that implication…

Lola: "Of course I'm NICE!"

Lucy: "All of this sourness and sadness… it's not normal. Normally, I'm the only one to feel that way."

Lily: "Poo poo." Lily said as she hung her head down in despair.

Lori: "Come on, guys. We need to think of a plan to get Lincoln back and to make him love us again."

The Louds then begin to think about how they can win back the love, trust and acceptance of their lost brother. Luan, still trying to lighten the mood for the benefit of her siblings, began to play the Jeopardy thinking music…

Luna: "Hey sis, knock it off! I like music and all, but this isn't the time!"

Luan then disappointingly turned off the music on her phone. She had hoped to humour her sisters, but she instead just annoyed them.

Lori: "Darn it! Lincoln usually comes up with all the good ideas and plans. Without him, we're totally screwed."

Lynn: "Boy, we really took our brother for granted, didn't we?"

Lisa: "I guessh being the shibling who was prepared to deal with anything was Lincoln's shtick. It's like with us. Luna is the mushician. Luan is the prankster. Lynn is little miss sporty, and so on."

But as the siblings were talking, they attracted the attention of their parents, who were downstairs but still able to hear their conversation. Furious that the kids were technically acting against the whole purpose of being confined to their rooms by themselves, they were quick to put a stop to it.

Rita: "Kids, stop talking to each other! You're all grounded until further notice! No communicating with one another, not even through the walls! Do I make myself clear?!"

All the kids then ceased their chatter as Lynn Sr congratulated his wife on her commanding and authoritative demeanour.

Lynn Sr: "Good going, honey. That will teach them to get out of hand again."

Rita: "They said Lincoln was going to his friend Clyde's house. I should ring the McBride's and ask if Lincoln is alright." She figured.

Lynn Sr: "That's a great idea. You do that and I'll go and make us a nice cup of coffee."

Rita then picked up the phone and dialled the number for the McBrides. But little did she know, her expectations would be greatly subverted, and her worries amplified, by the conversation she was about to have…

Harold: "Hello, this is the McBride residence!" he cheerfully stated with great politeness and a highly welcoming tone. Typical for the incredibly friendly and upbeat McBrides.

Rita: "Hi, this is Rita Loud. I'm calling to ask how my son is doing. Is he okay?"

Over the phone, there was a brief exchange between the two husbands…

Howard: "Who is that?"

Harold: "It's Mrs Loud. She's asking about her son."

Howard: "Lincoln? But he never showed up." He whispered nervously.

Harold: "I know. Just let me handle this." He reassured his partner.

He then shifted his attention back to the mother of the missing boy…

Harold: "Um, Mrs Loud, I don't know how to tell you this, but Lincoln never got here. Clyde was expecting him after he said he was coming over to stay the night, but he never arrived. We don't know where he is!"

Rita: "WHAT!?" she screamed in terror.

Lynn Sr then approached his wife and they had an interaction of their own on their end of the phone line.

Lynn Sr: "What?! What is it!?"

Rita: "It's the McBrides, they're saying Lincoln isn't there!"

Lynn Sr: "Huh? But where is our son then?!"

Rita: "I don't know! Uh, let me talk to them." She replied frustratingly as she prepared to maintain a calm demeanour while continuing with talk with Mr McBride.

Harold: "Hello, Mrs Loud, are you still there?"

Rita: "Yes, I'm here. Can you put Clyde on the phone, please?"

Harold: "Clyde! Lincoln's mother wants to talk to you!" he shouted upstairs to his son, still holding the phone in his hand.

Harold: "He'll be right down, Mrs Loud."

Clyde then came downstairs and took the phone out of his father's hand and prepared to speak with the concerned mother of his best friend.

Clyde: "Hello?"

Rita: "Hello Clyde, apparently Lincoln isn't at your place. I was wondering if you know where he is. Did he say anything to you the last time you spoke?"

Clyde: "No, Mrs Loud. When he last spoke to me, he just said something about needing a bit of space, and he asked me if he could stay at my place for a few days, and I just said yes. I haven't seen or heard from him since then."

Rita then sighed to herself out of worry and frustration with the situation, wondering where on earth her son had gone…

Rita: "Okay, thanks Clyde. By the way, if you see or hear anything concerning the whereabouts of Lincoln, could you please let me know. He left the house earlier today and hasn't come home. I'm worried about him."

Clyde: "Of course I will. Goodbye, Mrs Loud." And with that, the phone call ended.

Rita and Lynn Sr's faces were filled were utter dread and terror as they began to process the information that their only son, Lincoln Loud, was missing. He could have gone anywhere, and anything could have happened to him.

Lynn Sr: "Honey, what are we going to do?!"

Rita stood there for a moment before making a snap decision out of desperation and panic…

Rita: "We're going to look for him! He couldn't have gone far! We're going to search every square inch of Royal Woods if we have to!"

Lynn Sr: "But there's only 2 of us, it may take forever before we get anywhere! Besides, who's going to look after the girls?!" he questioned.

Rita: "First off, there's not just 2 of us. There's 12. Second, that's because they're coming, too!"

Rita made the decision and Lynn Sr agreed. Despite the grounding, finding Lincoln was paramount in their minds at that moment. They needed all the people they could get in on the search. Besides, if the family is going to win Lincoln's trust and love back, the sisters are going to need to be there to try and accomplish that feat. Their fighting was the trigger behind his departure, after all…

Rita: "Kids, get downstairs and into the van! We're going to search for your brother!"

Lori: "But you literally told us we're grounded!"

Rita: "I don't care! Get down here now! We need to find Lincoln!"

The sisters leaped out of their respective beds and headed for the stairs.

Leni: "Well, this is good. This gives us a chance to find Linky and redeem ourselves."

Lori: "I'm just hoping he's OK, Leni. And if we do find him, hopefully we can win him back."

And so, the adventure began. The family got into the van and began searching all of Royal Woods. All of them took their phones and communication devices so they could talk from different areas. The older siblings were paired with the younger siblings and sent to different locations to look for the lost boy. Leni went with Lola. Luna went with Lucy. Lynn went with Lana, and Luan with Lisa. Lori went by herself, and the parents went together, with Lily in their care, naturally.

Collectively, the family searched many places. The mall, all of the schools, various streets and neighbourhoods. Some areas outside of Royal Woods. But none of them were finding any success. Some of them, of course, couldn't help themselves from running into trouble. For example, while searching in one of the parks, Lana ended up fighting with a dog over a doggy treat which she found delicious, which angered the young teen walking said dog, intimidating her away. This then earned him a punch to the ground from Lynn. Meanwhile, Leni became easily distracted by one of the fashion stores when looking in the mall, only for Lola to drag her away (kicking and screaming, in fact) before she could go in.

The search went on for a few days. Other than work and school, the rest of the time the Loud family had was spent on continuing the search. As much as it annoyed each of the sisters, having to put their social connections and hobbies on halt, they cared about their brother more and knew they had to keep looking for him, especially since they felt responsible for him leaving.

As some of them were on the verge of giving up, or at least taking a brief break, since the search seemed to be leading them nowhere, Lori inadvertently stumbled across a very interesting and VERY crucial sight…

Lori: "Ugh. This is literally taking forever and there's still no sign of Lincoln!" she moaned exhausted while turning around casually, only to view a sight she couldn't believe.

Lori: "L… L… Lincoln?" she muttered in disbelief when she saw, while in one of the local parks, a figure in the distance she assumed to be her brother. The white hair was a dead giveaway, of course… how many 11 year old boys have white hair?

But could that have truly been who she thought it was…?

So, that was chapter 5. Chapter 6 will come out later this week, as it has already been written. Other than that, I may have to put the story on halt for a while as there's about to be a wave of new episodes being released this week, and as JustSomeOrdinaryDude, my primary focus is, of course, reactions to those new episodes. So, for the next week or two, it'll be back to classic content for me. Given how busy I can be during the weeks, the reactions may not be immediate, but I'll get them do as soon as is feasible. Once that's done, I can continue working on this FanFiction. Stay tuned for all that content in the near future.