A/N: Hello people, sorry for the delay! More info at the bottom.

As always, inspired by an idea by Norththegem on tumblr. Come check out our Loud House RP group at One for All - All for Eleven on tumblr!

Royal Woods, MI

A couple of sharp, rhythmic knocks shook Lucy awake. Luna had been the first to get up – a rarity in this house . Normally, Lynn would have shot up and began her morning exercises, but there was no activity to be heard. Lucy was forced to give up her bats after Lynn was bitten and had to be rushed to the hospital, nearly costing her volleyball championship. Her parents weren't ones for major punishment, but upon reading animal laws in Michigan, found out that bats were banned as pets. Lucy only sighed as her pet was given up to the zoo. As much as she wanted to, though, she couldn't get herself to cry. Lucy spent the next months wonder just why she couldn't express herself that well. Of course, she had her poetry, but she hadn't been able to write anything since school got out.

When Lucy got out of her room, she saw her other siblings slowly getting ready. A quick glimpse of Luna was enough to show that she did not sleep well. It wasn't just Lola who was an insufferable monster in the morning. Before her morning cup of coffee, Luna was almost as cranky. Notably, though, their mother wasn't up and running. Lucy muttered about it as Luna stepped into the bathroom first, slamming the door behind her.

The rockstar replied through the door, "Don't worry, she's probably just hungover."

Second in the bathroom line was Leni. "Wait, what is she hanging over?" She began to panic, "Do we need to help her down?"

Lisa, in the very back of the line, was always quick to correct her. "Negatory. It's what happens when one drinks ethanol based fermented liquids – street name Alcohol – and doesn't replenish their internal supply of dihydrogen monoxide."

Lana stood in front of Lisa, scratching her head, struggling to process the sentence, eventually she just sighed and gave up. She too looked tired as ever. Without Lynn to be the buffer between her and Lana, Lana's night terrors were even more audible than before. From the bathroom, Luna could be heard singing something, yet she was more likely yelling. She usually sang in the shower, but her lyrics this time were a lot more cutting and grating, specifically aimed at their mom. Lucy couldn't bear to listen. Mom had been the only one in her family to even notice her a bit. Sure, she told Lucy that her stares were creepy, but at least she would listen to Lucy without assuming that she could just get over it. Lucy loved her mother. She couldn't stand Luna's aimed yelling, so she decided to run downstairs.

"Where are you going, Lucy?" Lana asked, barely staying awake.

"I'm waking up mom." Lucy said.

When she knocked on the door to her mother's room, Lucy heard a low groan. She tried to open the door, though usually that didn't— it worked. Stepping in, Lucy found herself horrified at the sight before her. Mom was sprawled across the bed, face down, in the same dress she wore the night before. She was completely motionless, barely moving as Lucy cautiously walked over, tapping her shoulder. The groan returned as her mother opened her eyes. Looking up to see Lucy, she jumped up, clenching her head in the headrush.

"Mom?" Lucy said, worried.

"Morning, Lucy." Rita replied. She felt her forehead, clenching it a bit before moving to her side. She proceeded to complain about her headache, and how she couldn't remember the night before.

"Luna said it must be a hangover." Lucy suggested.

Rita's eyes went cold. She looked over to Lucy, quietly pleading that she take back what she said.

"What's wrong, mom?" Lucy leaned toward her.

"I… just…" Rita couldn't believe herself. Due to her near constant pregnancies over the past 18 years, she had sworn off alcohol. She never considered herself an alcoholic, but it was a problem she had with herself when she went to college. While there, she joined a sorority and developed a bit of a reputation as a party animal. Every weekend, she would almost over-drink and wake up in some strange place. She was never proud of it, and she always swore off the bottle by the next weekend, but she kept finding herself returning for comfort. As a result, she didn't do very well in school, and had to drop out and settle for an associate's degree in Dentistry just to land her current job, sacrificing her dream of becoming a novelist. The only thing she ever hoped for was that this news wouldn't trickle down to her children. Unfortunately, it looked like it did.

"I can go make breakfast if you want," Lucy mumbled as Rita stumbled her words.

Rita wanted to make it up to her children, but perhaps today, with her newly splitting headache, she could just swallow her pride.

"You're so sweet, Lucy." She said, smiling as Lucy walked off to fix omelettes for six.

It took Rita another few minutes just to leave her room. As she trudged through the living room and up the stairs, she passed Luna. Luna immediately glared at her as they passed, leaving Rita to really wonder what had gone on last night. She knew Luna could hold a grudge – just like she could – but seeing her own daughter ignore her like that killed her inside. What did I say, Luna, she pondered.`

Sighing at the top of the stair, Rita mumbled, "Good morning to you too, Luna."

All morning, Lana hadn't been able to focus on anything. It had been a week since Lola had left, and the older twin felt a little hollow. The divorce wasn't quite as messy as she had heard they could be, but the suddenness raised many questions for the twin herself. For one, when asked about why they broke up, Rita had only replied with "people grow apart." Lana mulled over that statement constantly, trying to figure out exactly why they do. It was due to that single line that she had stayed home when she would have normally gone to the creek with the boys or dumpster diving. It was the reason why she didn't outright express her disappointment when her mother told her she wasn't allowed to mess with her new car. Still, Lana tried to keep herself as occupied as possible when at home, whether that was tinkering with the toilet and plumbing, or feeding and maintaining her many pets.

While she was already in bed the previous night by the time Mom, Leni, and Luna came home, she couldn't help but overhear the conversations. Normally coolheaded Luna had been driven mad, and apparently she blamed Mom on it. Of course, when asked, neither of them gave a straight answer as Luna, clearly still angry at the situation, immediately tried to push everyone to get ready faster. Mom, on the other hand, was still getting ready, much slower than usual, to the point that Lana wanted to ask what was wrong. Luna refused to let this happen, though, as she shoved cereal in everyone's face and drove them off to school.

"Lana!" The 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Hawthorne, said.

Lana snapped awake. Her chronic night terrors were quite a problem, keeping her awake late at night. Without Lola around to provide a sleep metronome with her snoring, Lana couldn't distract herself to bed. Usually, if this were to happen, Lana would always climb into Lori's bed for comfort. Time and time again, she wanted to tell her parents about them, but in the end, she never got around to it. Now more than ever, as she struggled to stay awake in the middle of class, Lana regretted not telling them.

"Anyway," Ms. Hawthorne continued, "I want you to meet your new classmate today. Come on, introduce yourself!"

Next to Lana, in the seat that used to house Lola, stood up an auburn haired girl, wearing an eerily similar pink dress and a red bow on her head. Before completely shuttering for terror, Lana's first thought was a bittersweet nostalgia of her two minute younger sister. Of course, Lola wasn't here, and in her place stood a pageant shaped abomination.

Waving like the Queen of England, she spoke. "Hello, I'm Lindsey Sweetwater! It's a pleasure to meet all of you!"

The class clapped, all except for Lana. As Lindsey scanned the room, Lana sat paralyzed. They made eye contact. Lana saw all seven of her years flash before her eyes as Lindsey's plastic smile momentarily flickered. Lana didn't need to introduce herself to her at all, as Lindsey knew exactly who she was. Lana, usually a superstitious type, knew that Lola's years of bad karma were going to come crashing down on her.

"Moving forward," Ms. Hawthorne continued, "let's start class with a little reading exercise. Let's get into pairs, shall we?"

Lana ducked in her chair as Ms. Hawthorne began to rattle off pairs. This proved fruitless, as Lindsey was already making her way to join her desk with Lana's. Swallowing a ball of spit, Lana put on her best forced smile. Time to put that useless month in finishing school to work, she thought.

"Uhhh, How do you do, new kid?" Lana said.

Lindsey laughed with a snorted cackle. "Oh please," she smirked, "Just Lindsey's fine. You're Lola's sister, right?"

Feeling her gut twist, Lana found herself trembling. Right next to her was her twin sister's big pageant rival, and she couldn't do anything because it was in the middle of class. Lana would have preferred to stay far away from the diva if anything. In the end, Lana could only smile back at her.

Lindsey scoffed, "Fine then. Ignore me." As she read the passage to herself, she would occasionally glance back at Lana. The moment the two made eye contact again, Lindsey pulled Lana towards her.

"Listen," Lindsey whispered, "I know who you are, Lana Loud. I know everything about you and your gross life. Lola always complained about you, even after you tried to compete for her." She giggled, glaring straight into Lana's eyes.

"What the," Lana started, but Ms. Hawthorne loomed overhead.

"Making friends already, are we, Lindsey?" said Ms. Hawthorne.

Lindsey returned a massive grin. "Of course! I love learning about grammar with my new buddy, Lana!" She forced a side hug upon Lana. Lana smiled, but only out of nerved terror.

"That's good to hear!"

As Ms. Hawthorne walked away, Lindsey pushed Lana away, looking straight into Lana's eyes.

"Keep your gross hands away from me, Lana Loud," she whispered, "or else you'll get it."

Lana stood at the edge of the playground during recess, trying to fight off the returning sleepiness that plagued her life. As much as she wanted to play around on the monkey bars with all her friends, she couldn't keep herself awake for more than a few seconds at a time. While the rest of the boys seemed to be carefree in their enjoyment, Skippy happened to notice Lana spacing out.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Blinking back into consciousness, Lana nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Then come on!" Skippy said, jumping back onto the playground. "Watch me skip 3!"

She stood in place, watching as Skippy jumped onto the monkey bars, trying his best to skip as many as he could. Barely getting his hands on the third bar, all the boys cheered in unison at his major athletic feat. Skippy celebrated with his normal ritual of running around in circles with both of his hands raised. Lana would have participated in the cheering, but instead, she was distracted by a few first graders.

On the other side of the playground, a first grade boy found himself in a state of panic as he was being chased by Lisa. Lana could have stopped this just by grabbing Lisa and telling her to back off, but she knew it wasn't going to be enough to stop her. The boy, perpetually panicked, stared at Lana with puppy eyes as he got closer. Lana really began to register who he really was then. An occasional kid who hung out with Lana's friends, Sione was a timid boy from Fiji. Lisa must have never seen him before, so she was, in a sense just saying hi to him. Upon further inspection though, Lisa had a pair of scissor. Lana turned back to the boys, trying not to witness whatever Lisa was trying to accomplish.

The boys didn't bother to check on her this time, cheering Skippy's name as the new king of the bars. They marched off with him paraded above them, Lana completely missing her opportunity to celebrate. She tried to catch up. As she cheered on, the boys all seemed to ignore her, opting instead to carry their new king to his throne atop the climbing dome.

Looking around, Lana caught sight of Lindsey in the corner, hanging out with Lola's old friends. Once they noticed Lana looking back, they giggled. Lana rolled her eyes and spat. She wouldn't get involved with them then, she wouldn't get involved with them now. Before long, the school bell rang. Recess was over, and another round of Lindsey messing with Lana was about to begin.

"…And today, we are going to talk about the history of Michigan! First, we're going to start when the indians came over thousands of years…"

Lucy paid no attention to the lecture, instead, focusing on the poem in front of her. The only problem was that the poem in front of her only read a single title. 'Divorce', it read. What a lame name for a poem, she thought, sighing. Of course, no one paid attention to her. It came in rather handy at times like these, but Lucy still had to live with the prospect of trying to ignore the silence at home.

Looking up from her paper, Lucy glanced at the rest of the room. They all looked so happy, so content with their lives. Lucy normally lived in perpetual boredom at best, depression at its worst, but the way she currently felt about the entire situation at home all but confused her. Dad had left with half of the family, leaving Lucy behind in his wake. She tried not to dwell on the thought, but the history lecture going on in the background bored her to death.

She recounted all of her siblings, writing them down below the title of the unwritten poem. Lori was off at college. Leni and Luna stayed for some reason. Luan, Lynn, and Lincoln went to California, while her, Lana and Lisa were forced to stay. Lola and Lily were over in California for some incomplete reason. Lucy scratched her head. The division made no sense. Wouldn't Luna have been better off in California? She would have been able to live amongst celebrities, Lucy thought. The same would go for Lisa. Lucy didn't know much about education, but she knew that there were a few NCAA Football teams on the west coast because of Lynn's influence. According to Lynn, those school were pretty good, especially UCLA, Stanford, and Cal. On the other hand, Lincoln loved Royal Woods, and Lily…

"Lucy?" The teacher, Ms. Ryan, asked.

"Huh?" Lucy looked up.

"Didn't you hear the announcement?" said Ms. Ryan, "You and your sisters are going home early."

The entire class giggled. Lucy felt a wave of humiliation crash as she quickly got up and began her departure. Racing down to the principal's office, Lucy just wanted to scream. Even though she didn't care about anyone in the room, she still managed to feel embarrassed about the entire fiasco. Lucy wasn't used to dealing with this array of emotions. Usually, they flooded into her poetry book. This time, however, they landed squarely on her shoulders, flooding up without a single drip of inspiration. All of a sudden, the weight of the world felt too heavy. She wanted to have someone to discuss this type of dilemma with. Nobody had come to mind, yet, there was one sister who might have been able to help her.

"Luna…" she whispered.

Lana cocked her head to the side. "My name's Lana, Lucy."

Lucy sighed along as she entered Principal Huggins office, dragging behind the eager Lana. Lisa sat in the middle of the office, holding a lock of hair belonging to some poor first grader. After a prolonged silence, Principal Huggins asked Lisa if she knew what she did wrong.

"Actually, I don't think you understand the importance of this specimen," Lisa started, "I need to recreate the human genome so I can sequence the DNA of the Denisovans. Sione, being originally from a semi-remote island inhabited by a culture of sophisticatedly primitive wayfarers, street name Polynesia, but specifically Fiji, was my only chance at reviving it! With it, I can find a cure to hepatitis!"

Resting his forehead in the palm of his hand, Principal Huggins retorted, "Sione, the boy whose hair you cut without his permission, is crying in the nurse's office. Lisa, I understand you're immensely intelligent, but don't you ever think of other's feelings?"

"But it was for the greater good!" Lisa said, but she was cut off immediately.

"What greater good?" The principal got up, trying to cool himself off. "Lisa, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to suspend you for two days."

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Fine by me. I've got important tests to run."

Principal Huggins glared back, but he didn't immediately shout back. Taking a deep breath, he changed the sentence. "Two days of in school suspension."

"Dang it." Lisa held herself from saying the more intense version of that phrase.

The principal looked back at the other Louds, turning his glare into a frown. He began to talk to them, wanting to send his condolences.

"Look, Louds," Principal Huggins said, "I know what you're going through must be painful. It's something that you might not understand at first, but eventually, you're going to have to face the facts of life. Sometimes, things were just never meant to be." Looking out the window, Principal Huggins sighed. "I hope Lincoln's doing alright in California."

The sisters looked at each other and rolled their eyes. All of them immediately wanted out of the room, but they instead were stuck listening to the principal's barely relatable tirade. Lana found herself falling asleep in her chair, just barely waking herself up a little bit after almost falling down. Once Principal Huggins had a gap in his speech, Lana made sure to capitalize on it.

"Can we go home now?" She asked, whining a bit.

Principal Huggins looked back at them. "All I really wanted to say was that if you need anyone to talk to, feel free to talk to me. Let me call your mother. Rita, was it?"

A/N: Alright. Time to address the real issues I'm having. If you know me, then you know that I'm an avid traveller who gets the best quality work done when abroad. Well, I haven't been out of my SF suburb in nearly a month, and I don't have much of a social life outside the internet, so I spend most of my time hanging out on discord and waiting for work to come my way. I've been updating my webcomic every week since June of 2017, so I've been working on something every week for nearly the past year, and I've finally hit my limit. It's come to the point where I can barely come up with acceptable plotlines for Louds Apart or even my own webcomic, and I feel like my art style has been degraded over time.

This is not the end. I haven't peaked. I haven't even begun to peak. Louds Apart will continue, and you will read it because you're a fan, and that's just the way of the world.

Dennis Reynolds monologue aside, I still plan on updating Louds Apart AND my webcomic, so just you wait. I promise not to disappoint you.

I'll answer your questions next chapter, so please leave a review if you would like to get your question answered!