Earlier
Lincoln was pacing his room, waiting for a reply from Ronnie Anne. Earlier in the morning, Lincoln sent a text to her about Sabbac. Lincoln hoped he'd get a fast response, but it was already noon.
"Well, I did send it early in the morning; she probably hasn't been able to read it yet. Maybe I should go to Great Lake City and just talk to her face to face,"
Lincoln was surprised to see Lucy waiting for him when heading out the door.
"Uh, hey, Lucy,"
"Lincoln, everyone is waiting downstairs for you,"
"Oh right, I'll be right down," Lincoln replied before Lucy left.
Lincoln remembered today was the day he was going to have a sit down with his sisters and discuss things, hopefully putting all this behind them once and for all rather than until the next time.
"Ronnie Anne is gonna have to wait,"
Lincoln left his room; before heading downstairs, he activated the portal to the Rock of Eternity through his bedroom door.
"I'll head to Great Lake City through the Rock of Eternity later,"
Heading downstairs, Lincoln saw his family waiting for him, including his grandparents, Albert, Myrtle, and Leonard Loud, who had all arrived a few hours ago. Lynn Sr. had already updated his father on everything that had happened, including Lincoln being Shazam and the nightmare incident. Seeing his family gathered as if this were an intervention, Lincoln felt a bit nervous about the outcome despite his calm expression.
"Sweetie, we're all ready when you are," said Rita.
"Thanks, Mom," replied Lincoln. Taking a deep breath. "Okay, I'm going to be frank with you guys, you all hurt me worse than anything you've done before, and that includes the luck incident,"
"We know, Lincoln," said Lori
"No, you don't. The luck incident made it clear that you all love winning more than you love me. But this, this just tells me that none of you feel any love for me in the first place."
"That's not true." Luan protested.
"Is it? With the luck stuff, one could argue that nothing you all did to me was done with the intention of hurting me. But the last three months? No, you all knew exactly what you were doing, and you enjoyed my misery. You all wanted me to suffer, and you wanted that suffering to get worse. That's not a lack of thought; that's a lack of love."
"We only hurt you because we loved you. We loved you so much that the thought that you could hurt one of us like that made us irrationally angry." Lynn claimed, using her old excuse that right now sounded weak even to her.
"You expect me to believe that?" Lincoln challenged.
"No, but it's the truth." Lynn sadly admitted.
"Here's the truth. You all believed without a shadow of a doubt that I would do something so heinous as ruin one of your relationships."
"We're sorry, Linky," apologized Leni.
"No matter how hard I try to convince you guys I was innocent, you took that picture at face value, and Luna, you even wished I was a miscarriage or stillborn,"
"I'm sorry for what I said," Luna said, still disgusted with herself.
"Despite everything we've been through, you guys only saw the worst in me. You bullied me, tampered with my food and stuff, and encouraged the schools and neighborhood to turn on me, too; you even tried to ruin the one friendship I had left. Was this supposed to teach me a lesson? Or was it to send me the message that I was no longer welcome in your house? Then again, maybe I never was."
"I think the problem was we all agreed you had to be punished, but none of us agreed on how much was 'enough.' So we just kept doing it." Lori confessed regretfully, hanging her head in shame.
"Which proves my point; you were hurting me for the fun of it. That's why I believed that I never meant anything to any of you except for Lily, and in return, I started to believe that none of you meant anything to me anymore,"
"We don't blame you," said Lana.
"However, recent events such as the White Dragons and the Nightmare King have put that thought into question," said Lincoln. "Look, I'm not going to sit here and pretend I've always been the best brother; I've made my share of mistakes and done things that justified you all being angry with me,"
"Stink…Lincoln, can I say something?" Lynn asked.
"That depends. Can you really not say my name without wanting to insult me first?"
Lynn hesitated for a moment, admitting she deserved that. "Look, yeah, you've done things that ticked us off in the past, but there's a difference between us and you. You learned from your mistakes we never did. Even after we realized the photo was fake, we assumed we could just return to how things were before. We never truly considered your feelings and didn't put in any effort to truly make up for what we did and how we treated you, and look at what it cost us. What I'm trying to say is…"
"Hold on, Lynn, something is wrong,"
"Huh?" Replied everyone.
"There's nobody else outside, not even Mr. Grouse mowing his lawn,"
The rest of the family realized it, too; while the Louds were normally loud on Saturdays, so was the rest of the neighborhood. However, it was dead silent; Lincoln even called Clyde but got no response.
"Is the nightmare king back!?" Cried, Lola.
"No, he's locked up under Slumberland, but something is happening, possibly mystical. I'm going to check it out. I'll be right back,"
Lincoln rushed to the door to leave, but as he opened the door to exit, he found it blocked by the last person he expected to see.
"Hello, Lincoln Loud; how I've missed you,"
"Morag!?"
Lincoln was immediately grabbed by his collar and dragged outside. Pinned to the tree outside, Lincoln struggled to break free.
"You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment," Morag said with twisted glee. "Time to pay for ruining my life!"
"You did that to yourself, Morhag,"
"Get away from our son!" Yelled Rita and Lynn Sr.
Both parents rushed to Morag, but her left eye began glowing with a dark blue aura along with her free hand. Suddenly Rita and Lynn Sr. became encased in the same aura and began levitating. Before anyone could do anything, they were thrown back into the house with the door slamming, trapping everyone inside. Lincoln was shocked upon seeing what had just happened.
"How did you do that?"
"I made some new friends. Loud allow me to introduce you,"
Morag's eye began glowing brighter before it began expelling smoke. The smoke seemingly had a mind of its own as it moved behind Morag before splitting into 7 while Morag's eye stopped glowing. From the smoke, 7 creatures emerged, each more horrifying than the last one.
"Allow me to introduce you to the 7 Deadly Sins,"
Forced to watch from the windows, the Louds are more terrified than ever.
"My vision came true," said a terrified Lucy.
"We can't just sit here and let this happen," said Albert.
"There's nothing we can do Pop-pop, but pray for Lincoln," said Lynn Jr.
"Here's how this is going to happen, Lincoln Loud; I'm going to kill you slowly while your family is forced to watch," boasted Morag. "Then my friends are going to eat your family one by one, starting with the youngest one,"
"I get to eat first." A being who looked like he was 90% blubber spoke up. Lincoln had to guess this was the Sin of Gluttony.
"You won't get away with this, Morhag!"
"I already have, and don't expect help from your neighbors. I took the liberty of freezing them in their place and definitely don't expect help from those champions. Sabbac will keep them busy in that city for quite a while."
"Sabbac…city? Oh no, Ronnie Anne," thought Lincoln.
Suddenly the sins turned back into smoke before re-entering Morag's eye, making it glow again.
"Any last words, Lincoln Loud!?" Asked Morag as she raised her hand.
"Just One!" He replied.
SHAZAM!
Suddenly lightning struck Lincoln knocking Morag to the ground. As she collected herself, she realized Lincoln was no longer in front of her. Instead, it was a man in a red, white, and gold costume with a lightning bolt on his chest, holding a familiar staff. Morag quickly realized who this was as electricity crackled around his body.
"Oh, dear!"
"Do not fear him Morag, he is but one while we are more, show him the power of the sins,"
Determined, Morag got to her feet, her left eye surging with power.
"So, you're the one that wizard chose, pathetic. A mere child can't match the power I possess now,"
"Wanna bet?" Lincoln asked.
Morag charged at Lincoln, and the two locked horns, the two were forced into a stalemate as their strengths matched each other. The ground around them began shaking as if an earthquake was about to happen.
"You can't defeat us, Loud,"
Lincoln quickly freed his right hand as he drew back his fist, ready to punch Morag.
"You wouldn't hit a Lady now, would you?"
For a split second, Lincoln hesitated, giving Morag the opening she needed as she blasted him across the yard. Morag tried blasting Lincoln again, but he summoned his staff, deflecting the blast back at her and knocking her to the ground.
"What's the matter, Morhag? You seem pretty tough when dealing with scared kids; let's see how tough you are when facing a grown man."
"I've still got more than enough to destroy you!" shouted Morag, sending out the Sins again to overwhelm her opponent.
Six of the sins reemerged and began to attack Lincoln. Using his staff like a melee weapon, Lincoln began fending them off individually. The sins were relentless as the moment Lincoln knocked one down; two more would attack.
"Give it up, boy, you're 5,000 years too early even to hope to stand against me," mocked Pride.
"I'm guessing you're Pride. Well, you know what they say, Pride cometh before the Fall!" Said Lincoln as he blasted Pride.
Suddenly Lincoln was blasted by Morag through the tree. In a brief moment, he was there, ropes and leather straps wrapped around him, binding him to the tree.
"You can't fight so well when outnumbered." Lust mocked, sounding like he was licking each word as it left his mouth.
"Ew, you must be Lust,"
"Guilty,"
"You know everybody associates you with attractive women,"
"I get that a lot,"
"Now get this,"
Lincoln controlled his staff and sent it into Lust, causing the straps holding him to break. Once freed, Lincoln immediately dashed for Morag, but Gluttony rolled in the way bouncing Lincoln off his blubber and into the arm of a being wrapped in gold.
"Good work, Greed, now hold him still for Wrath," called Morag.
"So long as I get something out of this," Greed replied.
As Lincoln struggles to get free, another sin appears, resembling a crazed man-beast.
"I take it you're Wrath,"
"I'm going to rip your face off, champion!" Wrath said, raising his claw.
"I see you have a temper, but funny thing I learned about anger in these past few months, let it consume you and…" said Lincoln as Wrath tried slashing him, but he turned around, forcing Greed to take the blow and be slashed on the back making him release Lincoln as he yelled in pain. "You lose sight of everything'" Lincoln said, blasting Greed and Wrath away. Lincoln flew above his house, hovering, waiting for Morag's next move. Morag was annoyed seeing that despite their numbers, they were being beaten by one person.
"Sloth, what are you waiting for? Go get him!" She said to the sin that resembled a sleepy cyclops.
"Patience Morag now is not the time,"
Annoyed, Morag flew up, ready to continue the fight herself.
"So, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Pride, Sloth, and Wrath, huh? I see we're missing Envy,"
"So what?"
"Because I just thought of something; you must need at least one of those sins to remain in that eye to stay powered up; otherwise, you're vulnerable. So it's pretty obvious why poor little Envy wasn't invited to this party,"
Morag immediately felt her eye react, realizing Envy was reacting to Lincoln's words.
"Envy…no!"
"Obviously, he's the weakest, and the weakest don't get to play with the big boys," mocked Lincoln.
"Don't listen to him,"
"And who's more sad, weak, and petty than little Envy? The guy whose entire shtick is that he has nothing and wants everything everyone else has. At the very least, Greed doesn't know any better, but Envy? He's the little baby kicking and screaming that it's not fair. No wonder he's hiding; who wants to bring that out to play?"
Despite her best efforts, Envy gave in, leaving Morag's eye as a puff of smoke before taking the form of a green imp. With no sins inside of her magic eye, Morag was depowered as she began falling. Lincoln quickly catches her, ready to end the battle as they land back on the lawn.
"Let's see what happens if I remove that magic eye," said Lincoln as he went to remove Morag's eye.
"Now!" called Sloth.
"Lincoln, look out!" Yelled Lori.
Looking over his shoulder, to his horror, all 7 deadly sins not only recovered but were all charging him simultaneously.
"Shit, not again,"
Using this opportunity, Morag escaped Lincoln's grasp as the sins reverted to their natural strategy of overwhelming their opponent with their numbers. Lincoln tried his hardest, but no matter how many he'd knock off, the others would attack harder. Morag was gleefully watching as the Sins were tearing into Lincoln.
"Oh, what fun," laughed Morag.
"You bitch! When we get out of here, I'm going to fold you like paper, shove you up your own fat ass and use you as a soccer ball," threatened Lynn Jr.
Morag brushed off her threat as she continued watching. The family was desperate as they watched, needing to find a way to help
"We have to do something," said Leonard.
"Lori, try calling Bobby; maybe he can get a message to Ronnie Anne,"
"I already tried that, but whatever that hag did to the house is blocking off cell signals, I can't even send a text,"
"We can't just sit here and watch," said Myrtle.
"What about Mary?" Asked Lynn Sr.
"She was already here. I saw her in Vanzilla's window right before Morag threw us back in the house; if she's not here now, Ronnie Anne might be in danger, too," said Rita.
Lincoln had become tired of being outnumbered; in an attempt to regain the high ground, Lincoln yelled out.
SHAZAM!
Lincoln summoned a huge lightning bolt, crashing down and blasting the Sins. Getting to his feet, Lincoln had taken a lot of battle damage as he tore off the upper half of his costume, revealing cuts and bruises on his body.
"Is that all you bastards got? My little sister Lola hits harder than that!" Said Lincoln, summoning his staff again.
Angered by his statement, Wrath walked to Vanzilla, lifting it over his head; he was about to smash Lincoln with it.
"My baby," cried Lynn Sr. and Leonard.
Before he could, Charles, Cliff, Geo, and Walt charged in.
"Hey, the pets are trying to save Lincoln," said Lana.
"What can they do?" Said Luan.
"More than us," said Luna.
All pets began biting and scratching at Wrath's face; while it didn't hurt, it annoyed him.
"Little beasts, be gone!"
Wrath swatted them away with one hand, much to everyone's shock and horror.
"No!" Cried Lincoln as he pointed his staff.
SHAZAM!
Four lightning bolts shot out, hitting all four pets; however, instead of harming them all, they transformed, much to everyone's shock. Charles was now a monster bulldog, Cliff was a panther, Geo became a monster hamster, and Walt turned into an eagle; they were all now the size of Vanzilla.
"The boy summoned his animal avatars," said Lust.
"I can do that?"
"You may think dividing your power among these vermin will help, but you left yourself weaker, meaning this will hurt more!" Threatened Wrath.
Wrath was about to resume striking Lincoln with Vanzilla when Walt swooped in, grabbing the car with his talons and carrying it down the block. Confused, Wrath was caught off guard as Charles tackled him to the ground attempting to bite him. Cliff and Geo also charge in with a roar from Cliff as they attack the other Sins. The family watched with hope as it now appeared the fight was turning in Lincoln's favor as the pets were pushing back the Sins, much to Morag's anger.
"This can't be happening; these vermin can't beat you back,"
Suddenly Walt swooped in, grabbing Morag and flying away with her as she screamed.
"Unhand me you flying rat! Greed, do something!"
Dodging an attack from Cliff, Greed flew into the air to chase after Walt and Morag.
"It appears the tables have turned in Lincoln's favor," said Lisa.
"Yay!" Cheered Lily.
"Wait, something is wrong with Linky!" Informed Leni.
Lincoln had fallen on one knee, clutching on his staff to hold himself with one hand while the other clutched his chest as if he was having a heart attack.
"What's happening to me? Why do I feel so much pain?"
At that same time, Walt noticed Morag was getting heavier as Greed started catching up. Turning back to smoke, Greed re-entered Morag's eye, powering her up. Breaking free, Morag blasted Walt, sending him to the ground.
"Walt!" Yelled Lincoln.
The other pets saw this, too but found themselves also becoming weaker. Before they could do anything, they were knocked back and left in a pile as they returned to normal. Morag landed before using her power to throw the pets inside the garage, trapping them inside.
"Let's not have any more surprises," she said before releasing Greed.
Lincoln could barely move as the Sins, and Morag surrounded him.
"Foolish boy, don't you know what happens when you cast a spell wrong?" mocked Pride. "Beating down an inferior like you seems wrong, but then again, your hamster bit me,"
The sins began beating down on Lincoln harder than before due to being weak from casting that spell wrong and having no defense. All his family could do was watch as he tried fighting back.
"Give it up, boy; your strength won't return to full for a few hours; that's the price of casting a spell wrong, but you won't live long enough for that to happen!" Said Wrath striking Lincoln across the face.
"Now, who's pathetic?" Roared Envy slapping Lincoln in a way that mocked him more than hurt him.
"Any last words?" Pride asked in a taunting way.
"More of a question, if anything. If you're all superior beings, then why are you taking orders from Morag in the first place? Isn't that you are admitting she's superior to you?"
The Sins became enraged as they all blasted Lincoln making him scream in pain before he fell unconscious. As Morag was about to finish Lincoln, she was stopped by Sloth.
"He's down; let me kill him," protested Morag
"No, we still need him for something,"
"What, that wasn't our deal; you promised me revenge on the Louds,"
"And you will have your revenge, but not until we free our army,"
"Army?"
"We will explain everything later; until then, take revenge on him by taking away his family," enticed Sloth. "Send them to a slow death in the empty vacuum of space,"
"You better hurry; I sense Sabbac has been defeated; the other one will be on the way," informed Greed.
"Always in such a hurry with you." Sighed Sloth.
All the sins re-entered Morag's eye, bringing her back to full power; raising her hand, it began making the whole house rubble.
"Time to say goodbye, Louds, and don't worry, I'll take good care of Lincoln," mocked Morag.
The entire house was propelled off its foundation and shot into the sky like a rocket. Inside, the Louds screamed for help and tried what they could to find any possible way to escape before it was too late. Back on the ground, Lincoln just started to regain consciousness and saw something go up while there was a big vacant hole where the house used to be. He didn't need the Wisdom of Solomon to put two and two together.
"No!" He silently screamed.
Suddenly from a distance, he saw something or someone coming towards him. Lincoln knew it was Ronnie Anne; however, she soon changed directions as she began chasing after the house.
"Time to go," said Sloth as Lincoln started losing consciousness again. Back with the Louds, they were still panicking as the house rose until Lori noticed Ronnie Anne chasing after them.
"Guys, Ronnie Anne is trying to save us, but she looks hurt,"
"She won't make it in time, judging from her injuries; by the time she catches up, we'll all have suffocated in outer space," informed Lisa
"No, I refuse to give up; somehow, we'll find a way to help Lincoln, even if we have to do it as ghosts!" Said Lynn Jr. "I'm not giving up, especially when I didn't get the chance to tell him how sorry I am!"
The Loud house might be many things, but it wasn't airtight. The house started cracking, and the family huddled together in one final embrace as they prepared for the end, as they closed their eyes while the house began glowing. Suddenly, the house exploded in a flash while Ronnie Anne looked on in horror.
End of Ch. 27.
