Chapter 18: Purity (Our Bond)

"I'm sorry Lincoln, but it's just hard for me to process all of this at once.." Lynnsanity had told her brother earlier.

Lynn didn't want to upset her brother over the whole "purple room" ordeal, but she couldn't fully comprehend the situation that made itself present. It wasn't because she didn't completely believe him, it was more centered around the fact that, that she had no interest in learning more about the horrible place, from the way Lincoln described everything. If they hadn't communicated in a quick manner while she was encountering Lori's shadow, She's possibly dead.

Or at least that's what she thought she would have been.

That part didn't make too much sense to her. Why hadn't either of them ended up injured at all? Lincoln explained that process to her, but not necessarily as to why everything in the situation occurred in the first place. Luna appearing was the highlight that stuck out like a red flag. She couldn't have done that, not her sister. It seemed like an illusion more than anything, because last time she had seen Luna, she didn't have crutches... What was going on there?
Lynn slowly sunk down in the bus seat as she slowly tried to piece after piece everything together. It was starting to give her a migraine, but she wanted to know one more thing in particular.

"What's so special about her that we all as a family don't have?"

Luna had said those words. It bothered Lynn because, at this point, everyone was coming at each other's throats, getting extremely reckless in the process. Lori with the glass, Lynn punching Lori in the face to protect Lincoln back then. Clearly, they weren't much of a family as Luna claimed at the time, so what did she mean by her being special? Only Lincoln held the key to that answer. The white-haired boy was asleep next to the window, drool dripping carelessly in his unconscious state. Lynn didn't want to wake him from his slumber, but it was too important to ignore. Lynn leaned over her sleeping companion and tapped on the window. At first, she got no answer, so she increased the amount of force she put on the window the second time, and succeed as Lincoln's body jolted straight up as he wiped his eyes.

"Ugh..I'm sorry, I kinda fell asleep there. What up?" He replied half-awake.

"What did Luna mean by what she said about me being so special?" Lynn flicked her fingers.

Lincoln pondered for a second to give his most honest answer, which ended up being a simple: "I don't know." Lynn frowned at his answer, and Lincoln could feel the daggers of his leering sister's eyes, but it was the only thing he could tell her. So Lynn changed the manner that she asked her question. In a way that Lincoln could give more of a proper answer.

"What kind of relationship did you two have before we left?"

"Nothing too crazy. Just a regular brother-sister thing, why?" Lincoln was a bit curious about where Lynn was going with the question.

Lynn discredited the answer as incorrect.

"I don't think that's the way she sees it."

The boy took another minute to consider what his older sister had replied with. Unfortunately, being half-awake in cases like this might cause you to jump the gun on topics, and Lincoln was no exception.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT I SWEAR!" He claimed loudly.

Lynn smacked the boy upside his head as a small shade of red crossed her face.

"Th-That's not what I meant! I mean... Did she value you more than any of us?"

"Not that I can think of... I found it as strange as you did that she would say something like that." Lincoln meant everything he told Lynn. He didn't wanna lie, because in a way he had an idea of what Lynn was trying to get to. She already said she was struggling to fully put together what was going on, but maybe if he gave her more information in terms of why Luna reacted to her, Lynn could be more comfortable with what was going on. Anything she asked him, he would be upfront about it.

That didn't prepare him for what she asked next.

"Then how do you feel about me...?"

Lincoln felt his body freeze. What kind of question was that? It was an out-of-bounds question, and it was certainly taboo! But Lincoln already knew that it wasn't like he thought it was. Lynn had constantly doubted herself from time to time and the emotion on her face was evident of this. The shade of red on her face was as bright as a glowing light, but it wasn't like that because she asked a question that made the two sound like lovers. It was because she genuinely wanted to know the answer. At first, the boy struggled to come up with the correct words he wanted to express, but he realized didn't have to try to put it together like some fancy wordsmith.

He just had to be honest.

"I care a lot about you Lynn. You do mean a lot to me. I wouldn't change anything about you and I told you I will never leave your side."

Lynn didn't give off any type of response. She knew why too. Granted as confident as she was in her abilities, one small insecurity she had was addressing her feelings towards her family during the chaos that ensued for months. It only increased when Luna appeared, or she thought she did in the dream or- Whatever the case was, it was something she knew was a handicap that could be used against her. If Luna and the rest find them, she didn't know how well she'd be able to handle those feelings Lincoln was much more than that to her of course and she didn't want to address the detail of this until she felt like she could handle herself properly. But she was hoping that Lincoln would. It seemed a little unfair to do something like that. The thought of letting him know was burning her cheeks like the sun, but Lincoln seemed to not notice. Lynn had moved as much hair in front over her face as she could have, so that could have helped. The air was beginning to feel thinner and thinner for the athletic phenom, so her breathing got a little more deeper.

"Are you okay Lynn?"

No, she was not okay. She didn't want to let her feelings beat her to the truth. Lincoln was able to shed his nerves when he needed to when it mattered. He was her rock and her support partner. He meant the entire world to her for everything that they've endured with each other. Lynn had doubted this from time to time as well, but she knew at this moment that her concerns should disappear from here on out. She had to win against this huge hurdle. For Lynn Loud, impossible would never be acceptable!

She took one last deep breath and looked Lincoln dead in his eyes.

"Lincoln...I just..I care the world about you. You aren't just my brother...you're my best friend. I never thought we'd get the chance to be so close, but I promise you I won't let you down no matter what happens from here on out. I..will always protect you from the bottom of my heart until I can't anymore. You've reached out to me and tried so hard to be there for me when I needed you the most. For that, I will truly fight for you even if we see our family again. And I-um..I wanted to let you know that I..I lu-lo-...Ugh! I love you! Okay? I said it!"

The look in Lynn's eyes was wide and wildish. Lincoln didn't know what to make out of it. If he didn't say anything, his sister would succumb to embarrassment. But if he said the wrong thing, she would utterly kill him. So he decided to do what he did best.

"I knew that already. I think Leni's got you beat on that note. She loved all of us" Lincoln snickered.

Lynn stared at him for a second and began laughing herself. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that."

The two could finally relax after that a little bit. Lincoln would find himself back asleep on the window, while Lynn followed suit. Lincoln usually would have minded if Lynn had placed her head on his shoulder while he was resting, but this time, he decided a pass was fair enough.

Besides, it was kinda nice actually.

I know this is EXTREMELY short. But honestly, I wanted to just give you a hint on where Lynn and Lincoln's feelings were about each other were at this stage. (And to pull the strings on the shippers out there, just to have some fun)

Next chapter is gonna come soon enough, trust me I've tried staying as active.

I've got some exams coming close, so that's another reason I've been busy, so I decided to release ANOTHER teaser chapter (Hopefully there won't be too many more)

Plus I decided to switch up my writing style to be a little more descriptive like my other loud story: Last Loud out of Royal Woods, just to test it out a little more. Let me know if you prefer I write it this way, I really could use the feedback.

Keep your eyes out for another one. I say soon, but for your patience, Chapter 19 will be the longest chapter. I'm talking 10k+ words.

This is to thank you all for sticking with me for so long and the support means everything.

Well, this is long enough, so I'll head back to studying for these exams.

Yall stay awesome. Leave questions in the review if you have any, I promise I will answer as quick as I can.

TITAN OUT!