Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

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Chapter eight: Sweet Sisters

Lincoln Loud had just gotten dressed after waking up in his bedroom, which was actually a (formerly boarded-up) converted linin closet. After stretching a bit while yawning, Lincoln opened the door, walked out of his room, closed the door behind him, then proceeded to head down to the ground floor of the Loud family residence. After making a turn, Lincoln went into the dining room area. Upon entering, Lincoln saw the twins Lola and Lana, along with Lucy, sitting at the table eating breakfast. Over in the kitchen, Lincoln's ex-mother Rita was preparing something, probably breakfast for herself or other residents of the house.

"Morning," Lincoln greeted in a neutral tone as he took a seat at the table.

"Oh, good morning, Lincoln," Lana greeted, her tone sounding with a bit of trepidation as she was worried about upsetting her older brother.

"So," Lola began in a mildly unsure tone, "Umm…Do you have any plans for today?"

Lincoln shot Lola a wry look, three parts confused and seven parts curious that his younger ex-sister was trying to spark a conversation with him. He supposed that Lola was just trying to be cordial. "…Well given that schools in the Royal Woods area have today off due to some sort of teacher's protest, I was planning on seeing if any of my friends were available to hang out," the white-haired boy replied. Lincoln's tone was neutral yet cool, which had become something of a staple for Lincoln as of late. However, the coolness of his tone has simmered down a bit.

"Oh yeah, we have today off of school," Lana remarked, "I completely forgot about that." Turning to face Lola specifically, Lana asked, "Hey Lola, you wanna come with me to find some mud to play in?"

"No," Lola replied flatly, "Although I was considering heading to the park to play, provided that mom says it's okay."

"Heh," Lincoln chuckled casually, "Sounds like you two are going to have some fun today." The Loud twins turned to face their older brother after hearing him speak, then they turned to face each other. Both Lola and Lana wore resigned, upset looks on their faces that clearly conveyed that they were disappointed in themselves.

The twins, as well as the other sisters aside from Lucy, were still wracking their brains trying to come up with ways to make things right with the sole Loud boy. Lori and Lisa especially, since Lincoln had admitted that they're on the right track to making things right (which they took to mean that one more thing, maybe two, might be enough to finally be forgiven by Lincoln). The twins proceeded to turn their attention back to their bowls of cereal, hoping to finish breakfast before they headed out to go play.

The looks on the faces of the twins did not go by Lincoln unnoticed. As he sipped his glass of juice, the sole Loud boy felt a bit concerned; from the looks on their faces, Lincoln felt that the twins were under the implication that he actually hated them, just like what Lucy thought prior to Lincoln forgiving her. Granted, Lincoln is still very much upset with what had happened, but he doesn't actually hate any of his ex-siblings, or the rest of the family, for that matter.

If Lincoln actually did hate them, would he have given them the chance to make up for what they did to him back then?

As it turned out, none of Lincoln's friends were available to hang out today. Clyde and his dads were visiting relatives, Zach had relatives visiting, Rusty somehow did something to get himself grounded (in case anyone was wondering, Rocky wasn't in any trouble unlike his older brother), and Liam was at the hospital, given that his mother was rushed there due to breaking a leg; Liam was trying to provide moral support.

This meant that any plans of hanging out with friends today was shot for the white-haired boy. After hanging up the phone after talking to Liam, Lincoln turned around, looked up, and let out a sigh. He could spend the day reading comics or playing video games, but he was actually hoping to hang out with someone today. …Heh, ironic. The one time that he actually wanted to spend time with someone instead of being forced into it, Lincoln couldn't find any-

"Come on, mom!" Lincoln could hear Lola and Lana say in unison in tones of complaint.

"I'm sorry, girls, but I don't really feel comfortable with the two of you going to the park alone," Rita's voice replied, "I mean, it would be different if any of your five oldest sisters were available to watch you, but they all have something going on today."

Huh, so the twins couldn't go play at the park because Lynn, Luan, Luna, Leni and Lori were all unavailable to keep an eye on them? Lincoln chuckled to himself a bit in a tone of slightly dark amusement. "Sucks to be them," Lincoln thought in regards to the twins' plans being shot. …But who was Lincoln to find any amusement in this? His own plans were shot, thus leaving him with nothing to do. At the very least, he wanted to get out of the house for a bit, to get some fresh air.

After thinking about it for a few seconds, Lincoln walked over to where Rita was talking to the twins while saying, "Hey, Mrs. Loud!"


A few minutes later, Lincoln was sitting on a bench at the local parks, his arms laying over the back of the bench he sat on, as he looked up into the sky and watched the clouds go by. Nearby, the twins were playing, with Lana on the monkey bars and Lola in the sandbox. Lincoln let out a sigh that clearly indicated that he felt conflicted; despite a part of him actually wanting to forgive the rest of his family, another part of him knew full well that none of them had done enough to warrant said forgiveness. Even Lori and Lisa, with the leaps and bounds that they had both made respectively, haven't yet reached that level.

As Lincoln watched the clouds overhead slowly move on by, he heard a familiar female voice call out, "Hey, Lame-o! What are you doing here?" Looking down from the clouds, Lincoln turned his head and saw Ronnie Anne come walking over while carrying a skateboard. Ronnie Anne was accompanied by her friend Astrid Ace, along with a girl who Lincoln didn't recognize.

The girl looked to be about the same age as the twins; she had her brown hair in twin pigtails, similar to how Lana has her hair. The girl wore a long-sleeved purple shirt with a white kitty face symbol in approximately the center, a light purple skirt that reached her knees, white socks that reached halfway up her shins, purple slip on shoes, and a yellow hat with matching bag. Like Astrid, this younger girl bore noticeable hints of having some degree of Asian heritage, leading Lincoln to suspect that she might be a sibling of the Ace girl's.

"Hey, Ronnie Anne," Lincoln greeted casually as he got up, "Hey, Astrid. What's up?"

"I needed to get out and get some fresh air," Ronnie Anne said while holding up her skateboard, "So I figured I'd come here to the park and ride." Jerking a thumb at Astrid and the younger girl, Ronnie Anne continued, "I bumped into Astrid, who was on her way taking her younger sister Anna to the park, so I figured that I'd shoot the breeze with her."

"Astrid's friend's coat is a very pretty color!" Anna remarked, drawing a slight chuckle that sounded amused out of the Hispanic girl.

"That's the first time I heard someone outside of my family complement my jacket," Ronnie Anne remarked, "A lot of other people usually associate my jacket with terror."

"I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss that," Lincoln said to Ronnie Anne, "I mean, I have heard some people refer to you as the 'Purple Pain'."

"Purple Pain?" Ronnie Anne repeated in a tone of slight confusion. After considering what Lincoln had said for a few seconds, the Hispanic girl let out a laugh. "Heh!" Ronnie Anne laughed, "That's actually a pretty good one! I actually kind of like the sound of that!"

"And you wonder why I'm worried that you'll eventually get yourself into some trouble," Astrid said as she turned to face her friend. This only drew a bit more chuckling out of Ronnie Anne.

While Ronnie Anne was riding her skateboard around the perimeter of the local park, Lincoln and Astrid sat on the bench as they kept an eye on Lola, Lana and Anna. While the two white-haired kids were keeping an eye on their respective younger siblings, they decided to shoot the breeze a bit. "Your friend Rusty was grounded?" Astrid asked in a mildly concerned tone, "What did he do?"

"I'm pretty sure it had to do with breaking something," Lincoln replied, "I didn't get a whole lot of details on the matter."

"I see," Astrid said, a lingering hint of concern still in her tone. Turning to face Lincoln, Astrid asked, "Wasn't Rusty your friend who mentioned that you got Chandler to be afraid of you?"

"Yeah, that was Rusty who brought it up," Lincoln answered, "You're still creeped out by Chandler's flirting with you, aren't you? Have you tried telling a teacher or Principal Huggins about it?"

"I have tried, yes," Astrid replied in a mildly dejected tone, "But I haven't actually been able to tell any school staff member anything. Something always pops up."

"Have you tried setting the record straight with Chandler?" Lincoln suggested.

"He keeps interrupting me before I can get a word in edgewise," Astrid explained.

Lincoln thought about the situation that the Swedish/Japanese girl was finding herself in for a bit. After some consideration, Lincoln said, "How about informing your mom and dad, and getting one of them to meet with Chandler's parents about it?"

"I…could inform my mom about it," Astrid began a bit nervously, "My dad…unfortunately isn't around. Although I suppose I could bring in my older brother Aggro to help."

Lincoln understood what the white-haired girl was talking about. He could also tell that the absence of her father was something of a touchy subject, so he decided not to push it.

"But enough about my own troubles," Astrid remarked, "From what Ronnie Anne told me, you've got some serious issues with some of your sisters after they did something downright unforgivable to you. She didn't go into a whole lot of detail, although she did say something about having a desire to give all of your sisters responsible for your troubles bloody noses."

Lincoln wasn't too surprised that Ronnie Anne had told Astrid about how he was compelled to run away a while ago, although he had to wonder if Ronnie Anne had told the white-haired girl about the four specific girls that he mentioned when Bobby was expecting him to name some names. And if Ronnie Anne seriously wanted to give bloody noses to all of the responsible girls, then she would have a hell of a lot more work that she was currently thinking.

"I'm…going to have to ask that Ronnie Anne not do that," Lincoln said dryly, "I can deal with them myself."

With a smile, Astrid said, "You really are a great person, Lincoln. Now I see why your friend with the glasses trusts you so much."

"My friend with the glasses?" Lincoln repeated in a mildly confused tone, "Which one are you talking about? Clyde or Zach?"

"I don't know his name," Astrid admitted, a mild hint of embarrassment in her tone, "All I know is that he wears glasses." With a hint of blushing on her face, Astrid added, "Also, he's a far nicer boy then that Chandler creep." After hearing Astrid say this, along with seeing the look on her face, Lincoln's expression changed to one of surprise and bafflement; does the white-haired Ace girl actually have a crush on either Clyde or Zach (she wasn't being specific, only saying that Lincoln's friend in question wore glasses)? Better not say this to Chandler.

Actually, scratch that. Lincoln would totally enjoy rubbing this fact in Chandler's face.

"But enough about me," Astrid said, snapping Lincoln out of his thoughts. Giving Lincoln a concerned look, Astrid asked, "You aren't going to hold your sisters doing you wrong against them forever, are you? Because despite what they may have done, they're your family." With a mildly sad look on her face, Astrid continued, "You'll never know when the chance to let go of your resentment towards them will disappear because one of them might…no longer be around." Shaking her head gently, Astrid said, "I'm sorry about that last part. I guess that since my father, along with my aunt and uncle, are…no longer around…I let my imagination run wild a bit."

Despite Astrid apologizing for letting her imagination run wild a bit, Lincoln had to admit that she raised an excellent point. After all, the sole Loud boy had no telling if one of his sisters might suddenly 'no longer be around', as Astrid had put it. If such a fate did happen to one of the Loud girls before the girl in question had a chance to make amends with Lincoln, the white-haired boy would undoubtedly feel guilty about it.

The dream he had where he chased down and killed Luna in cold blood also made Lincoln feel a degree of horror with the idea as well. It was a dream that still gave Lincoln a chill to this day.

"I don't want to hold what my sisters did against them forever, no," Lincoln remarked to Astrid, "But given what happened, I don't want to forgive them just like that." Looking up into the sky, Lincoln let out a sigh as he continued, "When the time comes for me to forgive one of them, I want to be justified in doing so. Otherwise, would forgiving them have any actual meaning?"

With a small but appreciative smile, Astrid said, "That sounds pretty wise of you, Lincoln. But I still hope you'll eventually be able to forgive your sisters who wronged you." Looking up into the sky herself, Astrid added, "Not being able to ever forgive a family member…that doesn't sound pleasant if you ask me. I would not like to be in a spot like that myself, especially if something happens that would make it so that I would never be able to forgive a family member that wronged me."

"Yeah," Lincoln said as he continued to look up into the clouds. Granted, Lincoln was upset with more than just a few of the Loud girls, and he still wanted to forgive those who have wronged him with the bad luck fiasco.

But he also wanted to be justified in his forgiving.


After Lincoln had gotten his little sisters home, his friend Rusty called him up; as it turned out, the offence that Rusty was grounded over was actually his dad's fault, so Rusty was ungrounded and free to go while Mrs. Spokes had a serious talking-to with Mr. Spokes. After the two friends hung out for approximately two and a half hours, Lincoln had to take his leave after telling Rusty that he'd see him later, along with telling Rocky that he'd tell Lucy that he said hi.

Upon walking into his ex-family's place of residence, Lincoln didn't get two steps into the Loud family residence before he was met up by Lana. Before anything, Lincoln noticed two things right away about the tomboyish Loud twin. One, not only was Lana wearing a pair of gloves, but that they were a pair of long pink gloves, the same kind of gloves that Lola wears all the time. Two, Lana was clearly trying to force herself to be cheerful; the white-haired boy saw signs that the tomboyish Loud twin had been crying earlier.

"Hey, Lincoln!" Lana greeted, "Glad that you got back! Lola and I got something set up, and we want you to check it out!"

"You and Lola got something set up?" Lincoln asked, a hint of surprise in his tone, "You mean to say that you and Lola actually worked together on something?"

"Heh, yeah," Lana remarked with a bit of an understanding chuckle, "I can see why you'd be surprised to hear that." Gesturing for Lincoln to follow her, Lana continued, "Well come on, Lincoln! Lola and I bet that you're going to love what we did!"

"As long as you two didn't do anything that would prompt either of your parents or any of your sisters to get angry with you," Lincoln remarked a bit dryly as he followed the tomboyish Loud twin. To his surprise, Lana led Lincoln to the dining room area, where Lola was waiting. To Lincoln's surprise again, there was a variety of food stuffs set up on the table. There was a plate of cookies, a fully-prepared cake, and even a mug from which the warm, alluring smell of hot chocolate came from.

After looking at the spread of sweets that had been prepared, Lincoln looked over to where Lola stood; Lincoln saw that, like Lana before her, Lola had also been crying recently, and in fact was clearly trying not to cry at this moment. Additionally, Lincoln saw that Lola was wearing a slightly more ornate pair of her usual long pink gloves. "Lana and I did all of this all by ourselves," Lola said to her older brother as she gestured to where the spread of sweets sat at the table, "No one helped us with any of it."

Lincoln gestured for the twins to wait in the dining room area as he walked into the kitchen. After a few seconds, Lincoln came back. "I'm going to assume that you two also handled all of the cleaning on your own as well," Lincoln remarked in a knowing tone, "Because the kitchen seems surprisingly clean considering that two six-year-old girls claimed to have used it earlier."

"You know me, Lincoln," Lola said with something of a laugh that Lincoln could tell was a bit forced, "I don't like things being left messy."

"Also, mom would have yelled at us," Lana pointed out.

"Hmm," Lincoln remarked in agreement.

"So, Lincoln," Lola asked as she walked over to Lana and stood next to her, "What do you think? Lana and I thought that you'd like a really sweet lunch, so we made all of this!" Lincoln looked to the twins, then to where the stuff they made sat on the table. Lincoln could tell that the cookies and cake were homemade. Lincoln then looked to the twins again. After giving the pieces that he was presented with a few moments of consideration, Lincoln pointed to the twins.

"You two," Lincoln said in a firm tone that would hear no argument from the twins, "Wait here." Lincoln then turned around and left the dining room, with Lola and Lana waiting as they were told and where they were told. They worried, due to the tone that Lincoln had used, that they were in trouble. Well, they did use the kitchen while mom and dad were both out, but they didn't destroy anything, and they did a very good job at cleaning up. Also, the stuff that they made did come out surprisingly good for the efforts of two six-year-old girls.

Lola was about to say something to Lana, but before the pageant winning Loud sister could get a word out, Lincoln came back into the dining room. To the confusion of Lola and Lana, Lincoln was carrying, of all things, a first-aid kit. "The gloves," Lincoln said to the twins in the same firm tone as before, "Take them off."

"Why do you want us to take off the gloves, Lincoln?" Lola asked, her tone clearly containing a hint of worry.

"Take off the gloves," Lincoln repeated, adding a bit more firmness to his tone. The twins turned to face each other, exchanging worried looks. After a few seconds, Lola and Lana realized that they were not going to get out of this. With both of them sighing in defeated tones, the twins proceeded to remove the gloves that they were respectively wearing. They did so gingerly, both of them wincing slightly as if removing the gloves caused the twins a great deal of pain. When he got a look at the twins' hands, Lincoln saw that his suspicions were right.

Both twins sported spots on their hands where small heat blisters had formed; Lola additionally had a noticeable burn mark on the palm of her left hand, going from somewhere under her left index finger and going diagonally all the way down to the bottom of the hand. Seeing the damage on the twins' respective hands, Lincoln let out a resigned sigh; Lola and Lana had hurt themselves in what was clearly their attempt to get back into his good graces again. Granted, small children hurting themselves trying to make something in the kitchen isn't exactly rare, but it still worried the white-haired boy to see the twins like this.

"…Is this why Lana's wearing your usual pair of gloves?" Lincoln asked Lola.

"My usual pair…was actually burned really badly," Lola explained as tears started to well up a bit in the corners of her eyes, "Lana's using an extra pair of the gloves I usually wear while I'm using my fancy pair of gloves."

Sighing in a resigned tone, Lincoln said as he turned around to collect the first-aid kit he brought with him, "Are there any other burns that you two have that I should be made aware of?"

"What do you mean, Lincoln?" Lana asked as she and Lola watched Lincoln pop the first-aid kit open.

Looking over to Lana, Lincoln said, "Isn't it obvious? Someone has to treat both your injuries and the ones Lola has." After getting out some antibacterial ointment, gauze wrap and medical tape, Lincoln said in an instructional tone, "Alright, girls. Hold your hands out." After a few minutes, Lincoln got both of the twins' respective hands tended to. When that was taken care of, Lincoln put the supplies he had out back into the first-aid kit. After closing the kit, Lincoln turned to regard the twins.

"What were you two girls thinking?" Lincoln asked the twins in a stern tone, "Using the kitchen without supervision? Your mom didn't tell you two to not use the kitchen like that without reason, you know." Remembering the conversation that he had with Astrid at the park earlier, Lincoln continued, "You two are both lucky that things didn't escalate beyond burning your hands a bit."

"I'm sorry, Lincoln," Lola began, sounding both ashamed and upset, "It's just…it's just that I really, really, really wanted to make it up to you for my part in what we all did to you to make you want to run away." Shaking a bit, Lola continued as tears started to flow a bit, "Lana and I thought that you'd like it if you had a bunch of sweets, so we made you the cake and cookies and the hot chocolate."

"I'm really, really, really sorry too, Lincoln," Lana said as she herself started to cry a bit, "Lola and I thought that if we did this, then you'd trust us again. But with you scolding us about using the kitchen without someone watching us, I guess that plan flew out the window." Seeing tears flowing freely out of the twins like this, Lincoln merely sighed gently.

Looking over to where everything sat on the table, Lincoln paid special regard to the mug of hot chocolate. "…I doubt that you made just enough hot chocolate to fill one mug," Lincoln said to the twins without turning to face them, "Is there any more?"

"There a pot of hot chocolate on the stove," Lola remarked as she sniffled a bit, "Lana and I didn't have any because we made it for you."

"I see," Lincoln remarked in a neutral tone. Turning to face the twins, Lincoln said, "Girls, I want the two of you to promise me something."

"What is it?" Lana asked as both she and Lola gave Lincoln their full attention.

"The next time the two of you embark on something like this that requires the use of the kitchen," Lincoln began as he gestured to the stuff that they made, "Please get someone responsible to supervise you. I don't want you girls hurting yourselves like you did."

"Sorry, Lincoln," the twins said in unison, their heads hung in shame.

"You two wait here again," Lincoln said as he left the dining room area again. The twins waited obediently again, and to their surprise, Lincoln came back in from the kitchen about a minute later while carrying two mugs that were filled with hot chocolate from the pot on the stove. Lincoln sat the mugs on the table, then went back into the kitchen again, and came back after another minute carrying three small plates, a few forks and a knife.

Pointing to the one side of the table, Lincoln said to the twins, "Sit." Confused, Lola and Lana nonetheless obeyed their older brother. After they sat down, Lincoln proceeded to cut the cake that Lola and Lana had made. To the twins' surprise, Lincoln served each of them a slice of the cake, with each slice coming with some of the cookies and a mug of hot chocolate. After Lincoln got himself a slice of the cake and some cookies, he took up the mug of hot chocolate that had been provided to him and took a sip.

"…Not bad," Lincoln remarked in a genuinely impressed tone as he considered the taste of the hot chocolate.

"Lincoln, what are you doing?" Lola asked, her tone sounding with mild trepidation.

Giving Lola a wry look, Lincoln replied, "What are you talking about? I'm just enjoying the hot chocolate that you girls made." After taking another sip, Lincoln set his mug down and looked to Lola and Lana. "Look, you two," Lincoln began in a serious tone that carried a hint of worry, "I don't want you or any of the other girls getting yourselves hurt, alright? It's bad enough that I'm upset with your sisters. I don't want to have to add being worried about any of your sisters to that list." Leaning back in his seat a bit, Lincoln continued in the same serious tone that had a hint of worry, "I also don't want to have to add being worried about any of my sisters to the list either."

"Wait a minute," Lana began, her upset tone containing a hint of confusion, "What do you mean 'sisters'? Lola and I thought that you only liked Lucy right now."

Arching an eyebrow at Lana, Lincoln asked, "Then what about you and Lola?" Upon hearing Lincoln say this, the twins both gasped before getting up off of their respective seats. Knowing what was coming up, Lincoln sat up straight as he gently pushed his mug and plate closer to the center of the table to reduce the risk of making a mess. He saved his treats just in time, as he was soon, for the second time, tackle-hugged by multiple blonde-haired objects simultaneously.

END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER EIGHT

Author's notes:

Despite still not trusting most of his family, despite still resenting most of them, Lincoln does not want to see any of them hurt. This covers both being emotionally hurt, such as when Lynn's heart was broken a few chapters ago, as well as being physically hurt, such as when Lucy was punched in the eye by Biff or, as this chapter showed, Lola and Lana hurting themselves trying to practically make a bakery for Lincoln. So anywho, yeah. Once again, Lincoln has forgiven a sibling; two in one go, actually. And once again, I'm not sure if I did too well of a job on it. Hopefully my attempts at scenes where Lincoln forgives someone will improve as time goes on.

Also, keep in mind that the girls that Lincoln has forgiven so far are all kids even younger than he is; there isn't a whole lot that's within the realm of possibility for girls their age to do (I think that the girls that are older that Lincoln should be able to pull off more impressive feats, though). I'm…still not sure if I should count Lisa as an exception or not, because like I have previously said, regardless of what Lisa's accomplished, she's still just a four-year-old child, and there's a great deal of difference between being intelligent and being mature.