Author Notes - We're nearing the end of the story at this point. Including this one, it's just two more chapters to go!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - ALL OF US, TOGETHER

Thanks to the news story, and word getting around town quickly, there probably wasn't a single person in Royal Woods who didn't know about Lincoln's return. He found himself swarmed by townspeople, who only left them alone because they didn't want to mess with an angry Mama Rita. His return was so momentous for them that no one mentioned Lucy even in harsh whispers. Or perhaps they hadn't even noticed her as they ran by.

'Wow…' Lincoln murmured, as he saw all the people coming after him. 'I didn't think I'd be missed this much.'

'Lincoln,' Rita said. 'You're a Loud. We're the most famous family in this town. Even if you're not gifted, you're still a Loud like your sisters and father. They're gonna miss you.'

'Would they miss me if I wasn't a Loud?'

'Well, with how people are… don't think about that.'

With Rita pushing back the crowds with all her might, it didn't take long for the trio to make it back to Ruidosa, or what was left of it at least. The house was in no better state than it was last time Lincoln saw it, though the setting sun managed to hide some of the details in shadows. There was one thing missing, however.

'Where is everyone?' Lincoln asked.

'They were all looking for you.' Rita replied. 'And since everyone else seems to know you're back, they should be showing up right about… now.'

And, right on cue… 'LINCOLN!' Luna yelled. 'Dudes, I found him!'

She had spotted him so quickly that you'd swear she still had her gift. In a matter of moments, Lynn Sr and the girls ran up the hill one after the other as quickly as they could. Lily was in Leni's arms, Clyde had followed after Lisa, and every single one of them seemed absolutely exhausted.

'LINCOLN!' Clyde cried, the happiest he'd ever been.

'Yeah,' Lincoln said. 'I'm back! … WOAH!'

Lynn rugby-tackled him to the ground and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tighter than the footballs she often held. Before Lucy could make a getaway, Lynn grabbed her and dragged her into the big group hug too.

'Don't you ever run away like that again, Stinkcoln!' Lynn yelled, squeezing even harder.

'Ooh, are we having a group hug?' Leni asked. 'Cos I totes wanna join in!'

Leni, after handing Lily over to Luna, took a small dive and landed on Lucy, much to the gothic sister's dismay. Somehow, the sister who could see the future hadn't expected the sweet sister - the only one who got a good vision, according to the town - to be so happy to see her.

'Leni…' She muttered. 'Please get off me.'

'Oh, okay!' Leni said, obeying her orders. 'I don't think I recognise you. Are you, like, a friend of Lincoln's?'

Lynn rolled her eyes, still not letting Lincoln go. 'Leni, that's-'

The blonde gasped. 'WAIT! You're… you're Lucy!'

The other Loud sisters, except for Luna and Lisa, gasped as well. Luan shuddered, Lola fumed, and Lori hung her head and stared at the ground. Leni, meanwhile, just hugged her again. It was an embrace so tight you'd think she was trying to kill her.

'Leni, get away from her!' Luan cried. 'She might bite you with those…! Vampire fangs? Huh, I thought she had those.'

'LUUUCY!' Lola shouted, making Lucy flinch. 'I've got some words to have with you. YOU RUINED MY PAGEANT!'

'Oh my god, LUCY!' Lynn Sr yelled. 'You're back!'

The father charged right through everyone else and snatched Lucy right out of Leni's arms, squeezing her like a security blanket. Lucy could already feel his salty tears getting into her hair and running down her face, but she couldn't bring herself to separate from him.

'M-My little angel…' Lynn Sr murmured, already an unintelligible and blubbering mess. 'I-I-I thought I l-lost you… I-I never thought I'd see you aga-a-a-ain!'

Luan giggled, and gave her oldest sister a smirk. 'Wow, Lori. I see where you get it from.'

Lori shot her a look of offence. 'I… my gift had faded! What do you want from me?!'

When Lucy noticed Lori standing right there, she gasped; by saying the word 'gasp', of course. She managed to squeeze her way out of her father's hug and clambered over to Lori instead. Fear was almost non-existent for her, so she had no idea how to handle her racing heart and dampening palms.

Lori gasped too, and stamped her foot. 'You!'

'L-Lori,' She said. 'About that vision I gave you… you left before it was finished. I checked, and there was more to it. You see, Bobby was only 'betrothed' to another. I never said he would be married to another. By the end of the vision, he-'

'Don't you ever leave us again!' Lori yelled. 'Don't you realise how worried we were about you? I'm supposed to keep track of all my little sisters and brother, and you literally disappeared overnight one day!'

Lucy was silent for a moment. 'You… you were worried about me?'

'Of course I was worried about you! You're my little sister. I worry about all of you, from Leni all the way to Lily. That's why I got the gift of… of… never mind. All that matters is that you're back. Both of you.' She turned to Lincoln. 'And this applies to you too, Lincoln. Don't ever run away again. Your place is here, with us.'

Once again, Lucy had to wonder if she really was as good at predicting the future as she believed she was. Apparently, unless she had a specific vision for it, she really couldn't predict her future at all. All-or-nothing, it seemed. Her other sisters surrounded her, all smiling and overjoyed to see her. Except for Lola, but you didn't need to see into the future to predict that.

'Alright, Lucy!' The little princess yelled, stomping up to her. 'I've been meaning to talk to you for years. Why did you ruin my pageant?!'

'Uh, you mean the pageant that you won?' Lana said, raising an eyebrow.

'Yes, that one! I know I won, but I was a laughing stock for weeks! Care to explain yourself, Lucy?'

'Lola!' Rita said, putting her hands on her hips. 'She had that vision before you even had your gift. How could it be her fault?'

'Sigh…' Lucy murmured. 'No one was supposed to see that. Especially since it was the 'self-fulfilling' type of prophecy. I had hoped hiding it from Lola would stop it, but I didn't account for Lana's dumpster diving. But, if she had finished reading it, she…'

She stopped when she noticed Lola's expression softening.

'Wait…' Lola said. 'You tried to hide it from me so I wouldn't cause a hurricane?'

'I tried.' Lucy replied. 'But I know better than anyone that you can't fight destiny.'

'I've been mad at you, for years, over something that you tried to stop?!' She stared at the floor, her mind racing a mile a minute. 'OH, I'M TERRIBLE!'

Luan giggled. 'Wait, is Lola feeling remorseful? Now that's the real miracle!'

'SHUT UP, LUAN!'

'Will do!'

Lola couldn't take it anymore, and exposed Lucy to yet another big hug of apologies. Even without the threat of a thunderstorm, Lucy did not want to risk angering the dragon and thus allowed her to keep hugging.

'We're all back together!' Leni declared. 'Isn't that, like, a-MAZE-ing?'

'Oh, she's always been there.' Luna said. 'She may be really quiet, but I could hear her in the walls for years.'

'You could?!' Lynn Sr cried. 'Then why didn't you tell us?'

'The town was angry. They didn't seem so cruel when they thought she had gone missing, and she had made it pretty clear that she didn't want anyone to know that she was there. Knowing her, I thought that hiding in the shadows would be exactly what she wanted.'

'So did I.' Lucy said. 'But I was wrong, and it took me seven years to realise.'

'Alright everyone!' Lynn Sr yelled. 'Group hug! That includes you too, Clyde.'

Everyone came in for a big hug, with Lincoln and a highly-irritated Lucy right in the middle of it all. They held on tight, like this was the last moment they'd ever spend together. And for a while too. It took until Lucy pushed against everyone that the group embrace finally split apart.

'Now this is the real miracle.' Rita said. 'Not some candle or a gift, but my family. I only wish I realised that earlier.'

'We're all back together!' Lynn Sr declared, squealing just a little. 'This is going to be great!'

'Uh, not if we don't have a house.' Luan remarked.

Luna gave her a painful elbow to the chest for this little comment, while Lola gave her the 'read the room' kind of look.

'Hey, am I wrong?' Luan asked, pointing to the rubble. 'I mean, what is that? Whatever it is, it isn't a house.'

'Well, it was a house.' Leni said. 'We just put it back together again!'

'You're not wrong…' Lori said. 'But how? Before, Lynn and I could literally rebuild a house in seconds. But without our gifts…'

Rita huffed. 'Okay, let's not dwell on your gifts too long. I've made that mistake far too many times to count. Lori was more than her strength. Leni was more than her flowers. Luna… okay, you get the idea. That applies to Lincoln too, who single handedly proves that a Loud without a gift is still an amazing Loud. And we'll rebuild this house from the ground-up if we have to.'

Lori was already trying to move a big piece of rubble aside, all by herself. Plagued by the knowledge that she could easily move it just a week ago, she strained her poor arms and poured every bit of strength she had remaining. The pain shooting through her arms only reminded her of what she had lost.

'Oh, I can help!' Leni said.

Leni joined her, and with the power of two they were just barely able to move this rock out of the way. Lori gave her little sister a smile, until she realised how much more work she'd have to do without her gift.

'All by yourselves?' Clyde asked. 'Gift or no gift, that won't be easy. Maybe my dads could help!'

'Just your dads, eh?' A gruff voice came from behind them. 'That ain't gonna cut it, Louds. Can we give ya some help too?'

Everyone turned around to see Mr Grouse standing right behind them. Apparently, they were so occupied in their family business that they hadn't noticed him approaching them. Unlike his usual demeanour, he had a smile on his face. Albeit, one with a lot of snark behind it.

'I knew that, gifted or not, you guys are a complete circus.' He said. 'No way you could rebuild that house on your own. If you were left alone, you'd-'

'Okay,' Rita said, giving him a look. 'We get it. Are you going to do something, or just insult us?'

'Alright, alright, I'll get ta the point. The point is, I've rounded up a few people from the town. Which I deserve some of that Lynn-sagna for, by the way!'

Lynn Sr grinned. 'As soon as I can, I'll make ya some! … Wait, how many is a few?'

'See for yourself.'

Mr Grouse stepped aside to reveal more than a 'few' people marching up the hill, each with all sorts of building supplies and tools tucked under their arms or stacked up in wheelbarrows. They were coming up the hill in droves, and just about everyone that the family knew was here. There was Harold and Howard with a fresh supply of bricks, Cheryl and Meryl with a big load of spackle, the Yates with a bunch of tools and (probably) perfect knowledge of building… just about everyone they knew was there!

Well, except for Rusty. Poor kid was apparently still under that bookcase. Or had gotten himself trapped a second time. Both were possible.

'We wanna help!' Darcy declared, pulling out a stuffed giraffe from nowhere. 'Don't we, Rafo?'

'This took hours.' Mr Grouse said. 'So you better like it.'

'Oh, trust me, we do.' Lincoln said. 'With everyone working together, we might just be able to get this house rebuilt. Come on, guys! LET'S GO!'

The Loud family turned around to start working on the house, finally acting as a family after so many years of discord, until…

'I'd advise against that.' Lisa said. 'The sun is beginning to set, and thus it will be night time soon. I would not recommend working around in the dark.'

'Good point!' Lincoln said. 'We'll work on the building tomorrow, when we have more than half an hour of daylight. Until then, we'll need to figure out where we're gonna sleep tonight.'

'I'm good.' Lana said, grinning. 'I know this one dumpster that-'

'No.' Rita said. 'None of us are sleeping in a dumpster. Even you.'

Lana responded to this with a small pout.

'Leave that to me!' Lincoln said. 'I'll figure out where we should all sleep. We'll have to sleep in separate houses, because there's no one who is going to take in a family of thirteen without laughing at us. I'll stay over with the McBrides, obviously. Some of us might have to stay over at Aunt Ruth's…' He shuddered. 'But let's try to avoid that…'

Lincoln was used to sleeping in a small-ish room, and could even share Clyde's bedroom without much of a problem. But, when he returned to the site of his old house early in the morning, he noticed that most of his sisters looked a little tired. Apparently, none of them were used to sharing tiny rooms with someone else, since they all had to bunk with at least one other person. In fact, the only sisters who seemed fine with it were Lana and Lola, who had to put up with each other anyway.

'That was literally the worst sleep I've ever had…' Lori murmured. 'I couldn't even move my bed to a quieter part of the house!'

'Would you rather sleep there?' Luan asked, pointing to the rubble. 'Seems like it could be quiet.'

'Luan, just because I can't punt you across the whole world twice anymore, doesn't mean I won't beat you in a fight.'

'Point taken!'

'Well,' Lincoln said. 'We're not getting anywhere if we stand around and bicker with each other. Come on, everyone! It's time for Operation: Work-Together-With-the-Whole-Town-to… actually, better make that just Operation: Rebuild the House. Might make talking about it a little easier.'

Unfortunately, in spite of his enthusiasm, building a house is not something that can be done overnight. You'd be lucky to get it done by the end of a musical montage. So, it took a while to really even get started. First, they had to get rid of all the rubble piece by piece…

'I miss when I could've moved this whole thing in a minute…' Lori murmured.

'Someone, help me out here!' Lola demanded.

'You're not even trying.' Lana said. 'And that's just a pebble!'

'Weak!' Scoots yelled, dragging a massive rock behind her scooter.

Lola glared at her. 'IF I EVER GET MY POWERS BACK, I'M FIRING YOUR BUTT!'

Then they could finally start to put down the new foundation.

'AH!' Luan yelled, dropping a shovel onto her foot. 'Dang it.'

'Forgotten how to use your own hand or something?' Luna asked with a little smirk.

Luan gave her a slight glare. 'I'm not used to being stuck in one form, okay? These arms are so much more awkward to use than Lori's.'

'That's a perfectly normal sentence.'

And then came the really fun part - building the actual house itself. Lisa predicted that it would still take a couple more months to finish it, but the town working with them sped everything up considerably. Without the help, they'd be looking at a few years.

Lincoln placed down another brick, struggling with it even more than Lola was. 'I'm gonna need some more plaster over here!'

He turned around to get more plaster…

'AH!'

Only to see Lucy standing right behind him. She had abandoned that strange cloak, standing there in a regular black dress with striped tights. It made her seem a lot less scary, all things considered. She held a bucket of plaster in her hands.

'Got it.' She said, placing it on the ground. 'I made plenty of plaster while I was in the walls.'

Lincoln cringed. 'Uh, how's that been going, by the way? Is it weird being outside with all the people?'

'My skin hurts. If I don't stay in the shadows, I could burn under the searing rays of the sun. And the people…'

She cringed as someone yelled behind her.

'You told me my business was going to make a big splash!' Flip yelled, while trying to sell bricks that weren't even his. 'You didn't tell me I'd lose a Flippee cart to a raging river!'

Lucy was about to tell him that he did not ask for clarification, nor realised that she always delivered her prophecies literally to avoid confusion, but she had no time to.

'LEAVE MY LI'L SIS ALONE!' Lynn shouted.

The jock leapt out of nowhere and tackled Flip to the ground, throwing them both back into a pile of wooden boards.

'I'm still getting blamed for things,' Lucy said. 'But it isn't so bad, since Lynn takes care of them.'

'Oh yeah.' Lincoln said. 'You've been gone a while, so you might not remember this, but here's a little protip. Lynn may seem tough on you, but she's a lot tougher on anyone who makes fun of you.'

'I know that. I've seen it happen a lot from behind the walls. I just never thought it applied to me…'

Lincoln wrapped his arm around her shoulder, much to her annoyance. 'Just in case you forgot again, you're a Loud. And we'll defend you like a Loud too.'

At around this same time, Leni was struggling to lift up one of the wooden support beams. Turns out that being good with taking care of flowers and making dresses didn't necessarily make one super strong. Then, suddenly, she found it so much easier to lift and put into place. Lisa quickly arrived to measure its distance from another pole, to make sure they were properly spaced apart.

'Wow!' Leni said. 'I never knew I could carry something like that!'

'Uh, Leni,' Lori said. 'I'm right here, helping you.'

Indeed, Lori had in fact helped her carry it up. The eldest sister still missed the days when she could lift a whole bunch of pillars all at once, but she tried not to think about it. There was no use in fretting over a reality she couldn't help.

'Wow!' Leni said, just like before. 'Even without your gift, you're, like, so strong!'

Lori slumped her shoulders and sighed. 'Y-Yeah, but… sometimes I cry.'

'Sometimes?' Lisa remarked, retracting the tape measure.

'Okay, so I cry a lot. I'm… I'm not that strong.'

Leni giggled, and gave her a big hug. After all, nothing solved a family problem like an embrace, according to Lucy's visions. Lori would've pushed her away immediately, but it felt too nice.

'So do I!' Leni said. 'That doesn't, like, mean you aren't strong.'

'I concur.' Lisa said. 'I admit that I… am not nearly as impervious to human emotion as I like to think I am. Losing my gift, my home, and even my brother was taxing. I managed to hold it together, but the moment I was left alone, I…' She sighed. 'I could not stop crying. I produced far more high-salinity tears and sticky mucus than I realised I could.'

Lori gave her a look. 'Thanks for that. I really needed that image.'

Luna pulled on a rope attached to a pulley, to lift up a platform of wooden boards up to a higher level. Both of Clyde's dads awaited at the top to receive them, where they could not only help but get a better view at what their son was doing.

'Clyde!' Howard cried. 'Be careful with those bricks! You wouldn't want to drop them and hurt yourself.'

'Howie,' Harold said. 'Our little angel is strong. Don't underestimate him.'

Mr Grouse had been helping with the pulley as well, and he couldn't help rolling his eyes. 'What am I watching here? Some cheesy soap opera?!' He grumbled. 'I hope Lynn's adding another lasagna to the check…'

Luna could hardly focus on this discussion, because she was too focused on Lori. From her perspective, she could see both her oldest sister and Bobby. The son of the Santiago family was trying to cut some wood, but came dangerously close to cutting off his own hand several times. The only reason why he hadn't was because his little sister Ronnie Anne was there to stop him.

Though Luna couldn't hear nearly as well as she used to - something she still hadn't quite adapted to yet - she could still remember the things that Lori and Bobby said about each other. They may have kept it a secret from everyone else, but Luna had easily heard everything. Once the McBrides received the wooden boards, Luna approached Bobby just as Ronnie Anne yelled at him to be careful for the third time today.

'Hey, dude!' She said, leaning up against the sawhorse.

'Oh, hi Luna.' Bobby said, putting the saw down. 'Uh, can this be quick? I gotta get the wood cut, and it's taking me a while.'

'You'd probably be a little quicker if you didn't almost cut yourself every few minutes.' Ronnie Anne remarked.

'It's a lot more important than sawing wood.' Luna said. 'Do you see that girl over there?'

She pointed over to her eldest sister, who was now helping Leni plant some cacti in a garden. The moment Bobby's eyes lay upon her, his mouth turned upwards into a dreamy smile.

'You mean Lori?' He asked. 'She's dreamy… UH, I mean-'

'Dude, no need to panic!' Luna said, laughing. 'I was just thinking that since your proposal to Leni didn't go so well, maybe you could try asking out Lori instead.'

He gasped. 'Would… would she really like me?'

'When I still had my gift, I would hear her talk about you a looot. She loves you so much it's practically painful. You should at least give it a shot.'

'Yeah, bro.' Ronnie Anne said. 'Luna could hear everything. If she says Lori likes you too, then I think she means it.'

Bobby gulped and struggled to gain control of his shaky knees. Once he was done literally swallowing his nerves, he puffed out his chest and adopted an expression worthy of an action movie star.

'Alright!' He said. 'I'm gonna go talk to her!'

He marched over to her, trying to keep up that air of confidence despite tripping over himself about three times on the way there.

'Lori!' He said. 'I want to talk to you.'

She planted another cactus into the earth, and rubbed the back of her neck. 'Uh, can this wait? I-I have a lot of work to do, and-'

'I want you to go out with me!'

Lori stared at him blankly for a second as her mind fully processed this request. The moment it did, she threw herself into a hug and held him so tight she almost hurt him. Perhaps it was for the best she had lost her gift, at least for this one moment.

'YesyesyesyesYESSSSSS!' She cried. 'I'd love to go out with you!'

Among all of this, one certain mother watched her only son with awe and admiration.

'Would you watch our little boy grow?' She asked her husband.

If Rita was tearing up, then Lynn Sr was straight-up bawling.

'H-H-He takes after y-y-y-yo-o-ou!'

Author Notes - Can you tell that this was the 'wrap up some plot threads' part of the story? I mean, it is the ending (almost), so it would be a very bad thing if I didn't wrap up any threads here. And next chapter, we'll see the end of this Loud House x Encanto crossover that no one asked for.