Authors Note: I wanted to apologize for how long this chapter took, holidays drowned me a lot. I'm going to try and finish this story next chapter, I'll have a lot to say in the authors note there. I hope you all enjoy this chapter still.
It had been two weeks since Lynn had moved into her oldest sister's home. It was a very jarring change to adjust to, homeschool was not the hardest, it resulted in long boring days.
The loneliness was the hard part. The pregnant brunette would receive texts from her family, checking up on her or the sorts, sometimes a call or two.
Lynn did not answer many of them. Lisa was the one that she responded the most to, otherwise she would brush most of her family off, claiming to be busy with schoolwork or exercising. An outright lie that even Leni could see through.
Lynn's parents tried to keep in contact, however the sports-loving girl stonewalled them unintentionally, not wanting to add any more stress onto her life than she was already stuck with, she felt it best to ignore them.
Lynn had been partially following the advice that her aggressive split personality had shared on how to get rid of Dismal, although instead of giving up she took a different approach. She simply gave in. Every night the pregnant Loud sister dreaded going to sleep, it was like being drowned, facing each nightmare or terrible guilt inducing memory in her own head, waking up feeling miserable and stressed to no ends, drenched in sweat.
But Lynn braved on through it all, the only relief the 5th oldest Loud sister had was in Lynn-Sanity. The fight hungry split personality was obviously plotting something. She gave up trying to figure out what after the third day, just appreciating the peace.
"I don't know Bobby, she won't let me help her with anything, and she barely talks to me." Lori spoke, sounding unsurprised by the behavior, yet still hurt. The blonde woman thought keeping calm was the most important aspect of this situation, having been anticipating the worst from Lynn.
"Babe, she's just angry, we both know how crazy love can make a person." Lori's boyfriend of many years, Bobby Santiago, assured her. He was a similarly aged man in a green coat with short hair, sitting beside her on the couch.
"That's the thing that scares me, boo-boo bear, she isn't angry." Lori said as she sank slightly into her seat. Lynn had been nothing short of restrained and totally obedient, whereas the blonde college student had been anticipated being constantly verbally fighting with her little sister. "It's like she's on auto pilot." She added while looking at her boyfriend.
"Are you saying you wanted to get into fights with her?" Bobby had to ask. It sounded crazy to him, then again when his longtime girlfriend told him why Lynn was here, he found the entire situation to be rather insane.
"Of course not! Just..." Lori's voice trailed off, trying to think of the right words to describe how she felt, it took a moment for her to gather her thoughts. "I wouldn't be so worried if she was just angry, but I'm worried she's shutting down." The oldest Loud sister expressed her worries, shutting down was rarely the correct response to anything in her eyes.
"I'm happy that she's taking responsibility for the babies, I want to make sure everything is as normal as possible for them when they're born though." Lori continued, unable to deny she was impressed at her little sister for being so mature, but also a little bit jealous. The college girl had been wanting to have a baby with Bobby for over a year now, though she knew it was better to wait until she finished her last year of college and get settled into a better job first.
"Come on Lori, she isn't shutting down, she's adjusting, that's all." Bobby reassured his girlfriend. From the Santiago man's perspective, Lynn had been fine, the two of them did not have much social chemistry, he usually interacted with her whenever he found the sporty Loud doing her usual exercises at their exact times.
The brunette behaved independently despite being quite restricted. The man with many jobs knew that Lori had been ready to act as a full support for any of her many siblings, this was not a scenario she had been prepared for unfortunately.
"Lynn barely even speaks to me, and Lincoln..." Lori shook her head, running a hand through her hair in flustered annoyance. "He's worrying everyone too." She sighed. The oldest Loud sibling was not sure at all what was going on with her little brother, just secondhand stuff that Lola kept her up to date about, even that however felt vague.
The two were oblivious to Lynn, who was listening from around the corner. She looked rather awful, disheveled and mostly unkempt from the exhaustion that came from being constantly awakened throughout the night, whether it be from her own nightmares, or due to pregnancy related symptoms.
"It's our fault Lincoln's miserable." Dismal Lynn's hollow voice chimed up, the brunette looking to her right and seeing the hallucination standing beside her like the world's most annoying ghost.
"Yeah, it is..." Lynn sighed out her agreement, she was giving up arguing against her depressed doppelganger the longer things went on, what was the point in resisting it? The pregnant woman took care of herself, tried her best not to burden Lori and Bobby, did her usual workout routines, and that was it.
Lynn went back to the guest room, closing the door behind herself and going to take a seat on her bed, burying her face into her hands. The sports loving girl felt like her mental health worsened by the minute, it made her belief in the 'emergency plan' for after the children were born all that stronger.
"I'll have to force myself along eventually." Lynn took a breath, closing her eyes, she was dreading when that time to force herself back into the world came.
"Why shouldn't we just stay and lay around? It's not like we're worth much to nearly anyone now." Dismal Lynn attempted to inquire, finding it all to be pointless, Lynn did not say anything at first, mostly due to the fact she was silently agreeing with it.
"I already told Chandler I'd help him." Lynn flatly reminded herself, tilting her head to the right and looking at the pill bottles on her nightstand. She didn't even know why she bothered taking her medication anymore, it had no effect.
"Yeah, and we're gonna need his help for Clyde." Lynn-Sanity's tone chirped up from beside Lynn, the sporty Loud did not argue, she had essentially relaxed to her aggressive split personality's presence, mostly because it never hurt or threatened Lori and Bobby.
"An eye for an eye, right?" Lynn-Sanity eagerly grinned, disturbingly enthusiastic, Lynn initially did not respond as she laid back in the bed.
The pregnant girl wanted to drift back off to sleep, though the sound of knocking on her room's door woke her back up. "Lynn? Are you awake?" Lori's voice chimed up through the door, the 5th oldest Loud sister stared at her ceiling, debating whether to answer or not.
"Yeah, I'm up and the doors open." Lynn reluctantly responded while sitting up, though having to use her hands to push herself up, she was starting to really feel the weight from the pregnancy now.
Lori opened the door, stepping inside the room, unaware of the fact her younger sister had been eavesdropping on her and Bobby's conversation earlier. "We're going to go out to eat, you want to come with us?" The blonde woman invited Lynn to accompany them, sounding genuine while attempting to hide the worry she held.
"She's asking you if ya wanna intrude on her date with Bobby, talk about creepy." Lynn-Sanity cringed. They were treating it like a pity offer at most, this wasn't the first time that Lori had tried to tempt Lynn into going out and spending time with them, the brunette having basically become reclusive these last couple of weeks.
"No thanks, I'll just cook something for myself in a bit." Lynn declined the invitation, having become a decent enough cook in the kitchen to now be able to consistently make good food. Lori still was surprised by how good her little sister had become in that aspect, maybe it was something she inherited from their dad?
"Come on, Lynn, you aren't grounded or being punished. We can even invite some of your friends if you want?" Lori implored Lynn to agree, shutting everyone out was the one thing that the oldest Loud sister did not want to have happen, yet it seemed like the primary outcome. At most her and Bobby sometimes saw the brunette leaving her room to exercise like her normal routine and that was it.
"You're acting like we should be throwing a party." Lynn rolled her eyes; she had not talked much to Margo or Paula since she initially switched to homeschooling. The sports loving girl did not want to distract them from their games with her own problems.
"I mean, yeah, we should be." Lori began while she stepped over to her younger sister, sitting beside her on the bed. The oldest Loud girl hated seeing Lynn not being herself.
"You're having babies, that's plenty of reason to celebrate! I would be surprised if some of our family weren't already planning the baby shower." The college girl continued, wanting to treat the pregnancy as a great thing, despite the circumstances being far from the best.
"Why? Everyone will cut Lincoln out of it, and just spend the entire thing silently judging me." Lynn retorted to her oldest sister. Dismal had put those thoughts in the pregnant teen's head, and she could not say it was wrong. Hearing that made Lori internally flinch; she had stepped into that minefield of the conversation by accident.
"N-No, no one would be judging you at all. They all want to support you, both before and after those babies are born." Lori tried to pick her words carefully, opting to avoid mentioning Lincoln at all. From what Lola had told her, Lincoln was doing even worse than Lynn was in terms of behavior.
"I'm a dead weight to everybody now Lori, why should I even pretend otherwise anymore?" Lynn rhetorically asked, her gaze drifting down to Lincoln's watch on her wrist. She appreciated Lori's efforts to try and spend more time with her, yet the brunette could not help but feel like it was all fake, like her oldest sister was trying to distract the sports lover from her woes temporarily.
"Why don't we lay down and go back to sleep...? It'd be nice to not be in control longer than you need to." Dismal Lynn suggested, being seen already laying behind the two while Lynn-Sanity was sat at the nearby desk, just watching.
"You aren't dead weight to anyone! I know we've never exactly had the best relationship, and I know your hormones might be a little out of whack right now, but you're not a monster over one mistake! You're taking responsibility for everything, that's the most important thing." Lori argued back, swearing she could feel that ever worsening depressive aura radiating from Lynn. She did not want to see the 5th oldest Loud punish herself like this, unaware that the brunette had been mentally suffering a lot as is.
"I'm going to take a nap, just go spend time with Bobby." Lynn flatly declined the invitation to go out once more, the pregnant girl lying onto her side and letting her head flop onto the pillow, her messy hair going all over the place. Lori wanted to argue further; she stopped herself, she knew she could not force her little sister into doing anything, the college goer knew that would only end badly.
"We won't be gone long." Lori stood up from the bed, leaving the room and closing the door behind her. That was probably the most the siblings had spoken in the last near month worth of time.
"No luck?" Bobby quirked a brow as his girlfriend for several years stepped down the hall. The Santiago boy was trying to be supportive for Lori's sake, but he had to internally ponder if trying to continually beg Lynn into spending time out of the house with them was a good idea.
"No, but at least she talked more than usual this time." Lori sighed, beginning to step away with her boyfriend, the college student wanted to at least enjoy this date with Bobby, hoping to distract herself from all the trouble her siblings were dealing with recently.
One month later...
Things at the Loud house had not been much better in the last near two months of time that had passed. Lincoln had been on autopilot in terms of how he behaved, at first trying to be strong, that failed rather quickly after Clyde tried to approach him at school on several occasions, only for the white-haired boy to brush him off and leave early, it was all he could do to avoid the risk attacking his former friend.
A lot of his sisters tried to get him to go outside and hang out with them, coming to their only brother asking for help with various problems, and it worked at first.
Though as time went on, Lincoln began to become far more reluctant to help. The problems were small, or they didn't need him. Lincoln's schedule consisted of one routine, go to school, then go work at Leni's, then go home. That was it, whether he bothered eating breakfast and dinner or not was random.
Lincoln had just gotten back home after another day that felt almost endless, the white-haired boy spent a lot of it distracted, worrying about Lynn's split personalities.
Not being allowed to communicate with her made his anxiety even worse. Lisa assuring him that everything was fine thus far did little to comfort him.
Lincoln currently was in his room, sitting at his desk and studying for an upcoming test. His head resting in one hand as he tiredly read, he heard his cell phone ringing, he saw it was his mom calling and decided to ignore it.
The middle Loud sibling had been ignoring his parents for the most part. It wasn't like he was disrespecting them constantly; he just did everything quietly now, even picking up extra chores just to distract himself further.
"Hm?" Lincoln quirked a brow hearing a knock on his bedroom door. "It's open." He reluctantly sighed out while rubbing his eye tiredly, not even bothering to turn around when hearing the door opening.
"Lincoln? Are you busy?" Lola's voice chirped up hesitantly. The beauty pageant loving twin had been one of the ones working the hardest to try and get her only brother out of his depressed mood, mostly because she wanted his attention back.
"What do you want, Lola?" Lincoln requested the beauty pageant lover get to her point; his tone of voice expressed his lack of patience or interest quite well. From the white-haired boy's point of view, Lola had been annoying him to no end as of late, he appreciated her efforts to try and cheer him up. Unfortunately, it just always felt ingenuine and forced, like the only person the blonde girl was trying to help was herself.
"The spring blossoms pageant is happening next week, and I really need some help working on my routine for it." Lola explained what she needed help with. Lincoln tended to assist the twin at most of her beauty pageants, whether it be her makeup, her routine, or simply providing encouragement, she relied on him for a lot.
"You can do just fine on your own." Lincoln declined to assist her in this upcoming pageant, not even taking his attention off the book he was reading.
"Aw come on, you're always studying now! It won't hurt to spend some time away from the books." Lola insisted while coming over and grabbing his right arm, trying to drag him along. That was when the spoiled twin felt an overwhelming sensation, like the air around her older brother was filled with pure sorrow.
"Lincoln...?" Lola weakly chirped while looking up to him. She received no response; he did not even look at her. The blonde girl seeing that shattered agony that Lincoln's eyes held, the pain from being betrayed by his best friend, the past trauma, the fear of Lynn and his children's wellbeing when potentially under the threat of the split personalities. It was all too much for the bucktoothed teenager. Lola began to back away, quietly making her way out of the room.
Once Lola was alone again, she took out her cell phone, seeing a single text message from Lori on the screen. "Can you give me an update on Lincoln?" The text read. The spoiled twin dialing her oldest sister's number, before holding the phone up to her ear and waiting for an answer.
"Hey Lola, do you got any news for me?" Lori answered, sounding perplexed. Normally Lola just texted her with important details and updates on their family's recent activities, rarely was there ever a call.
"Lincoln's shutdown on all of us." Lola put it bluntly with a crestfallen tone of voice. The young girl was far from the first one that he had turned away, though to her knowledge she was the second to last one he could turn down. "Here's all that's happened in the last month..."
Lola began recounting how every one of the Loud siblings tried various ideas or methods to get Lincoln out of his stupor, but the results were never good. After securing a good first-time contract with a music company for Luna, the white-haired boy quit being her band's manager, with his reason being that they could find someone better that could focus completely on them.
Luan needed Lincoln at a magic show since he was her assistant normally, about half of her magic tricks required another person to pull them off. Instead of him doing it, Lincoln just paid Rusty to fill in for him. While it worked, the comedic Loud was not comfortable doing her best tricks on a new helper, causing her performance to decline partially.
Lucy had been able to spend long periods of time with Lincoln without being affected by his depressed aura. Though there wasn't much talking happening during those times.
Lana was able to convince Lincoln to help her with working on Vanzilla a couple of times. The problem was that the red-capped twin got caught purposefully tampering with the family van, intentionally causing simple to solve problems to let their only brother fix. The worst part about it to the animal loving twin was that he didn't even get mad at her about it.
Lisa was too preoccupied with attempting to aid Lynn to really focus on Lincoln, her reasoning being that their only brother would want her to prioritize Lynn's wellbeing first. No one argued with the child genius about that.
Lincoln still worked at Leni's, often requesting overtime from his 2nd oldest sister and dedicating entire weekends to the fashion store. No one exactly knew why; the best guess was it was out of his desperate need of a distraction.
The only one that Lincoln did not become despondent toward, was Lily. The youngest Loud sister was the main one they always sent to get their brother to come to dinner.
"... That's everything that's happened. Plus, he's turned down helping me at pageants anymore now." Lola explained while running a hand through her hair in exasperation. There was a long pause as Lori processed all she had just been told.
"I didn't think it had gotten that bad." Lori muttered, having been unable to really visit her family as of late. It felt unfair for her to do that without Lynn, and she had been unable to convince the sporty Loud to really go anywhere.
"Is Lynn doing any better?" The spoiled twin attempted to inquire. All the Loud sisters were eager to be aunts, even if the circumstances were not the best.
"Lynn only goes out for doctor appointments or so she can go to the gym." Lori began explaining, not sounding optimistic whatsoever. The only reason Lynn even went to the gym was because she agreed to assist Chandler in rehabilitating his damaged leg.
"She takes care of herself, she does her schoolwork, she works out... Lynn isn't really herself anymore." The college girl explained further, only really giving any answer due to knowing how worried their whole family was for Lynn.
"Think you can try again to convince Lincoln-" Lori began to speak, only to be interrupted.
"No." Lola firmly replied. Her serious tone caught her oldest sister by complete surprise.
"What? Look, I know it's hard seeing Lincoln like this, but we can't just give up on him though." Lori pleaded with the spoiled twin, wondering just how hard their only brother had been towards turning helping her down.
"I'm not giving up on him, there's just nothing I can do. We both know there's only one thing that can bring them both out of this funk easy." Lola explained. The beauty pageant lover was starting to feel a little used by Lori at this point.
"So... What? You think we should let them do what they want?" Lori sarcastically and rhetorically asked, unable to believe she was hearing this. Lola might not be aware of the full details of the situation, though the oldest Loud did not want to go sharing the nastiest side of the truth.
"And what's your solution? Hope it's a crush and that they'll forget everything? What if they haven't moved on by the time the babies are born? Will you just keep him away from his own kids?" Lola asked a dozen rapid fire questions at once. While at first, she was against the mere idea of this relationship, she began agreeing with her twin gradually overtime. The most they were doing now was torturing them, it was a little late to break apart a relationship when they were having kids.
"Nobody would be okay with this! Mom and Dad sure wouldn't be!" Lori countered, unsure if she was going crazy or not at what Lola was saying.
"Maybe you should host a sister meeting, who knows, they might agree or have some ideas." Lola suggested with a half lie, thinking if they could convince Lori then everything would be easier from there. She didn't see her oldest sister as the bad guy. There was only so long this could go on before something changed or someone gave up, and it was very readily apparent their only brother and pregnant sister were gradually giving up with each passing day.
"If nothing changes soon, then fine." Lori agreed, rarely were sister meetings unproductive at least. That and she thought it would be nice to have a form of reunion, even if the circumstances were stressful. With that said, Lola hung up the phone, tossing it onto her bed with a weary sigh. As much as the tiara wearing girl wanted things to get better, she doubted they would, all she could do now was wait and hope for the best outcome.
Lola could only hope that Lori would not be too mad at the trap she had unintentionally set her oldest sister into. Most of the Loud siblings were either indifferent or supportive of the relationship.
Another month later...
Lynn was at a small community gym; it wasn't the farthest from Lori's home and Chandler didn't complain about it. As of late the brunette did not do much beyond act as a glorified coach to the boy her split personality had injured.
Lynn was sitting on a small bench. Her pregnancy had reached the point that it was rather impossible to hide anymore. She did sometimes earn a few strange looks from others in the gym, but one glare tended to make anyone mind their own business.
"Loud, what's the point of this? My legs busted, not my arm!" Chandler asked while curling a pair of dumbbells, wearing gym clothes with a brace around his injured leg. The workout routine Lynn had made for him seemed to focus on a lot more than just his leg, and while it seemingly was working alright, it left the former party addict confused.
"Because you may as well try to get other parts of yourself stronger while you're healing that leg." Lynn casually said in a half-distracted manner. Chandler did not argue with her on that, the brunette with the ponytail looked a lot stronger than when they first started.
"How's Lincoln been?" Lynn requested from Chandler, it wasn't the first time, she always wanted to know how her only brother was doing. Lori wouldn't talk to her about Lincoln, it seemed like a topic the oldest Loud avoided for the sports loving girl's sake. Someone like the boy with the damaged leg tended to know a lot about what went on at school, so he was her next best choice.
"He's a ghost. He doesn't exist outside of classes, it's kind of creepy." Chandler responded. The injured teen had been keeping an eye out for Lincoln, mostly because he felt he owed that much to Lynn since she kept inquiring about him. The sports loving girl did not say anything in response, keeping quiet while letting him continue to do his usual number of reps.
"When're the babies due?" Chandler tried to strike up a different conversation. There was something surreal about the 5th oldest Loud being pregnant, she dropped school and everything for her unborn children. The former party king of the school was truly oblivious to the truth of the matter.
"A couple of months. I already have some names in mind." Lynn answered. She didn't know the gender of her babies though; she had opted to leave that as a surprise. And just like that, the silence had resumed once more.
Lynn felt her hair standing on end when she heard a familiar, yet muffled voice. She cocked her head to the right and saw Dismal standing there, only something was clearly wrong. Dismal Lynn's hallucinatory form was not looking too stable, it was as if they were becoming a blur. The pregnant Loud could barely make out a word the depressed split personality was saying.
It was a lot creepier to Lynn, that much was for certain. Every night when she went to sleep, she tackled those hellish memories of guilt and self-doubt. Dismal was a very clear image during those nightmares, yet over the course of the last month or so, the depressed split personality was becoming less stable seemingly over timespan.
Lynn had no idea why. Her best guess? It was most likely because she had partly done what Lynn-Sanity had told her to, giving in instead of giving up. The aspiring sports star found it was becoming far easier to accept and confront her depression around that same time.
"Hey now, you're forgettin' to uphold your half of the deal." Lynn-Sanity's voice chirped from behind her. Lynn giving a slight glance over her shoulder, the aggressive split personality having an overly enthusiastic grin on its face. The brunette didn't know if she would regret the deal she had made or not. It seemed to be working out in her favor at least.
"Alright, my arms are killing me..." Chandler groaned out while letting the dumbbells slump to the floor. Lynn took in a breath, trying to build up the courage for what she was about to say, knowing that once the ball got rolling there was most likely no stopping it.
"Chandler, what would you do if you knew who beat you up?" Lynn brought the query up out of nowhere. Chandler titled his head confusedly.
"What? Why're you bringing this up suddenly?" The teenage boy quirked a brow. He had not really put much thought into the incident, having taken his beating with his thought process being 'I had this coming.'
"I'm saying I might know who hurt you." Lynn crossed her arms, giving him a solid serious stare.
"The cops pretty much told my family to give up on catching who did this... If I had to choose, I'd like to make things even." Chandler honestly answered. He had to suffer the rest of his life with this debilitating injury, so getting even sounded far better than dealing with the cops.
"I can help you get even, if you're willing to wait until after I've had my babies." Lynn made her offer clear. She swore she could feel the aggressive split personality's eagerness radiating behind her.
"I'm listening... Who did this to me?" Chandler requested his glorified coach no longer hold back. Lynn could not deny the feeling of shame welling inside her, the brunette had to remind herself that if she did nothing Clyde would most likely take things to the next step. He had done this much out of pure spite and revenge; he would go further.
"It was Clyde... He tried to play vengeful knight in shining armor when he thought I was letting you take advantage of me for party invites." Lynn made her lie clear without any fumbling; it was thoroughly well rehearsed in her head after all. "He told me what he did when I broke up with him." The aspiring sports star added on, she noticed a rage building in Chandler. Not of the blind variety either.
"You sure you wanna help me do this? If he's-" Chandler tried to speak. He was interrupted when Lynn patted his back.
"He's not the father of my kids, and I don't mind helping you. Clyde's gone off the rails. After he hurt Lincoln, I broke up with him... I'm worried he might do something worse if he isn't put in his place." Lynn repeated what was whispered in her ear many times by the aggressive split personality. There was a brief pause between the two of them. The 5th oldest Loud sister saw Chandler forcing himself to his feet, the brace around his leg doing a good job at keeping him standing without the use of a cane.
"Thanks Lynn, I'll be patient for you." Chandler thanked her before he took his leave early. It was clear he was determined now. He didn't doubt Lynn one bit, she wasn't the type to screw with him randomly, her tone held plenty of truth in it to him.
"Hey, I just had a thought." Lynn-Sanity chimed up. The sporty Loud was trying to stop her hand from trembling, mentally debating on if she should bother indulging the overly aggressive split personality or not.
"How come you haven't just had Chandler carry letters to Lincoln for you? It seems like a pretty easy solution for getting ahold of Lincoln." Lynn-Sanity suggested. While the younger doppelganger of Lynn sounded uninterested, it did bring up a valid suggestion, one she had already run the idea of through her head several dozen times over this month.
"I was gonna do it, but when I heard how miserable Lincoln was... I don't know, I guess I thought it would be nicer if I didn't constantly remind him about me." Lynn gave her honest first thoughts. The strong woman looking to Dismal, the depressed split personality appearing no more stable than it did a minute ago. It seemed like it was trying to speak, however it was inaudible still.
"... You're still planning on killin' yourself if you can't get rid of us, huh?" Lynn-Sanity had to guess, their tone sounding disappointed. Lynn did not reply, she pushed herself onto her feet, grabbing her bag and beginning to make her way out of the gym as well.
When she was outside, Lynn had her cell phone held up to her ear, waiting through the ringing for Lori to pick up.
"Hey Lynn!" Lori answered after a few moments. The oldest Loud sister sounded suspiciously happy with this call, then again Lynn couldn't even remember the last time she had a real conversation with her blonde sister, let alone called. Normally the brunette just ducked most of her phone calls in general.
"Is everything alright?" Lori asked, now wondering if something was wrong when the same thought process occurred to her.
"Yeah, Chandler just tapped out early." Lynn assured her older sibling that nothing was wrong. "Look I... huh?" The sports loving girl found herself stopping midsentence, she felt a kick. The 5th oldest Loud putting a hand on her stomach, feeling another one. While this wasn't anything new to the myriad of strange changes happening in her body, these kicks felt a lot stronger than the ones the pregnant girl had gotten accustomed to.
"Lynn?" Lynn snapped out of her momentary distraction when hearing her sister's voice.
"Sorry, sorry, babies were kicking again." Lynn apologized, feeling embarrassed for being so easily enraptured by what she thought was such a small thing.
"Can you come and pick me up? I'm not feeling up to walking home right now." Lynn requested a ride from Lori. Normally the sporty girl did not mind walking everywhere she wanted to, though it seemed to be getting harder to do with each passing week. The only reason the 5th oldest Loud was requesting it, was because she knew the blonde woman was getting out of the last of her classes around this time, having unintentionally memorized Lori's schedule over the time she spent living with her oldest sibling.
"Oh, uh... I'm kind of going to Leni's right now, I'll have Bobby get you." Lori apologized. Any other time the college student would say yes with no hesitation, especially with how desperate she was to get her brunette sibling to talk to her like they were family again.
"What? Did something happen?" Lynn worriedly asked, hoping that everything was okay. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she looked to her right and saw the rough form of Dismal beside her, still sounding like they were trying to talk to no avail. To the pregnant girl, it was like listening to someone talking from deep underwater.
"No, I needed to pick something up, that's all." Lori brushed it off. The reality was she was going to a sister meeting, or rather, what best made up one. It always felt wrong being at a sister meeting without all their sisters.
"Alright, tell Leni I said hi." Lynn ended the call there. She diverted her attention to Dismal, hoping that maybe concentrating on the depressed split personality would help make it more understandable.
"... Fe... Deser..." Dismal Lynn's hollowed tone tried to speak out, being heavily muddled still. Lynn held her head, unsure what to really say.
"What is with you? I talk to you for hours every time I go to sleep, what is there left to say?" Lynn questioned in irritation; a single finger raised towards the split personality. The pregnant girl taking a seat on a bench outside the gym, being forced to wait for Bobby. The brunette saw Lynn-Sanity already in a separate seat on the bench.
"Hey, your half of the deal was to help me get rid of them, so what's going on here?" Lynn partially demanded an explanation from her aggressive split personality. Seeing it sat there beside her, having appeared from nowhere, with its arms behind its head, looking rather satisfied due to it being one step closer to getting revenge on Clyde.
"I already gave you the best clue I had. It's worked so far, hasn't it?" Lynn-Sanity rhetorically responded. Lynn looking away from it, focusing her attention on Dismal again, at least it was silent now. "It's probably working, hell maybe those munchkins of ours are helping. Your body is in a pretty weird place." Lynn-Sanity continued while having a confident smile.
Lynn did not know if she should be thankful for it or not. She was uncertain about the reality of the situation. What were her choices? Realistically speaking she could only see two options. The first outcome being that she had her babies and opting out of life to keep them and subsequently the rest of her family safe. The other, potentially living with one split personality for the rest of her life in uncertainty, trying to satisfy its violent needs so it would let her be at peace.
The aspiring sports star decided not to dwell on it for the time being. She just gently rubbed her pregnant stomach, being quiet and waiting patiently for her ride to pick her up.
Lori was trying to gather her thoughts. She was sitting in her car, right outside of Leni's home. Her vehicle wasn't the only one there, she saw Luna's parked nearby as well. If what the oldest Loud sister had been told was right, she knew what to expect going inside. Every one of her younger siblings, discounting Lily Lincoln and Lynn, would be in there waiting to start this meeting.
"How did Lola even convince them to have this meeting?" Lori had to wonder. Did the spoiled twin lie? She didn't think that was the case, either their many sisters were just left in the dark on what the meeting was about, or they had all agreed to fully talk about what to do about Lincoln and Lynn's love for one another, given their feelings for each other clearly weren't dissipating yet. Out of the two of them, Lynn's health was the one worsening the most, even if the brunette was doing her best to hide it.
Lori got out of her car, trying to at least ready herself for whatever this evening brought. She made her way up the stairs on the side of the business that connected to Leni's home. Once standing before the door, the oldest Loud sister knocked several times. It only took a moment for the door to open.
"Lori!" Leni's eager tone chirped out. Lori was greeted by a tight hug by the long blonde-haired girl.
"H-Hey Leni, good to see you too." Lori coughed. The oldest Loud sister making a mental note to try and visit Leni more often, it was easy to tell that Leni was seeing this sister meeting like a nice miniature family reunion at her home.
Lori followed her inside, sure enough everyone was there. The seven sisters had been keeping busy talking mostly while waiting for their oldest sibling to show up. Taylor was nowhere to be seen. Leni had insisted to her employee that she could stay and that it would be fine, the high school dropout thought it would be better if she wasn't around, even if she knew what the meeting was most likely about.
"I told Mom when she was busy that I was taking everyone to get pizza for dinner, we got a couple of hours." Luna informed Lori before the oldest Loud sibling could ask how they all were able to get here on such short notice. The meeting had only officially been made barely yesterday.
"Good work. I guess we'll start right away." Lori cleared her throat, seeing no reason to delay the sister meeting any longer. "Did Lola tell you guys what we're here to discuss?" The college student asked, wanting to know if the many sisters were at least aware of the reason for this meeting or if they were misled at all.
"Lincoln and Lynn's broken hearts, right?" Luan had to actively resist making a pun.
"Yeah, Lola told us already." Luna replied, laying back on her seat on the couch.
"If she hadn't, I would still be working on my current project." Lisa stated. She had become more or less obsessed with helping Lynn, both with her pregnancy and her mental health. The child genius having visited Lori's home on a few occasions already, probably the most out of all their siblings. The hard part about that for the bespectacled girl was just watching Lynn deteriorating mentally more and more over time.
Lori was uncertain what to say. They were all here to talk about their worst-off siblings, though the oldest Loud sister was unsure what there was that could really be said. They had all tried to help Lincoln get past this, he was shutting them all out one by one. The college student wondered if the discussion was about to pivot towards ideas on how to help Lynn get over her emotions next. Though she doubted it would have any better outcome.
"Are we going to let them stay together?" Leni innocently broke the strange pause. The oldest Loud face palming.
"No Leni, that's literally the worst thing we could do." Lori shot down the fashion loving sibling, not really holding it against her for thinking like that. The soon to be college graduate briefly scanned the room to read the reactions on everyone's faces. She was surprised by the lack of expressions, as if they had no real thoughts about being truly against it currently in their heads.
"Won't that be weird when their babies are born though?" The low intelligence woman asked. That certainly earned a few looks towards her.
"What do you mean?" Lori asked her younger sibling to go on.
"I mean when Lynn has the babies, won't that kind of be mean? Either we don't let Lincoln see his own kids or have to keep reminding him he can't love their mom..." Leni explained her thoughts. It sounded like a torturous method short term, long term it seemed like a crazy thing to do at all. The newborns would grow up, they would ask questions, ones that would inevitably drag history back to the surface. To the 2nd oldest Loud, it sounded like this was all impossible to do without being mean to their siblings.
Lori found herself staring at Leni. Sometimes her low IQ was capable of deep thinking, even if it was an accident. It reminded the oldest Loud a lot of what the spoiled twin had said to her on the phone not that long ago. She had to wonder if all the sisters thought like this now.
"Those two already went through a lot cause of those split personalities." Luan added in reminder. To her, it was like they were punishing them for taking responsibility for their actions.
"Keeping a dog away from their puppies is pretty cruel... It's not good for the puppies either." Lana muttered in agreement, though she was using animals metaphorically as an example. A lot of the sisters were rather hesitant to really express their true thoughts. It was an irrational fear of making Lori angry. They all knew their oldest sister was not the type to get enraged for no reason now, even in intense disagreements the college student was able to keep a level head.
That didn't make the select few bad memories from years back any easier to ignore.
"I'm just trying to keep them from getting in trouble. It's a good thing Clyde told mom and dad when he did, they were doing this stuff in public." Lori tried to argue against it. She thought Clyde did what he did out of worry for his best friend, unaware that he had most likely done it with malicious intent to harm Lincoln and Lynn.
"Okay, look why don't you all tell me what you ACTUALLY think. These meetings are supposed to be productive, and I don't want to sit around for an hour beating around the bush because you're all too worried about how I'll react." The oldest Loud sister requested from them all to share their true trains of thought. Not just the moral aspect of this discussion, but their genuine honesty with how they viewed the incestuous relationship. A split personality might have started it, yet Lynn and Lincoln chose to at least give it a chance after that. That was the situation from what the blonde woman understood.
That statement seemed to create a void of silence on the spot. It was pretty jarring having Lori get like this so suddenly. It was obvious to Lisa that their oldest sister was becoming increasingly worried for their siblings, just as much if not more so than the rest of them.
"I don't really see it as a new thing. I mean, Lincoln and Lynn always have been close." Luan was the one who went first, having little hesitation with sharing her perspective on things. "Was half expecting her to ask him to prom when that time came around." The aspiring comedian added.
"The split personalities pushed Lynn to the edge after they got attacked... Lincoln made sure they didn't go over that edge." Lucy proclaimed with the same tone she always had. The goth loving girl knew Lynn would have probably stubbornly gone forward day after day while trying to fight the split personalities alone through sheer willpower alone.
"I don't like the idea of Lynn being his favorite sister... But I'll ignore that if it means getting their old selves back." Lola shared her thoughts. She was jealous of the thought of someone else getting Lincoln's undivided attention like that, the spoiled twin had accepted the reality of the scenario not that long ago.
"Feelings are weird, it isn't something you really can control. I want her to be happy when the babies are born, not miserable." Lana said, looking at the leg that Lynn had treated a few months back. The mud loving twin couldn't imagine a better pair of parents, she just did not want Lynn to be alone emotionally throughout all of this.
"If it weren't for Lynn and Lincoln, I'd have not been able to be where I am now. I owe them my support at the very least." Luna proclaimed, withholding the fact she had been a lot more supportive than she let on. The aspiring rock star making it out to be like she owed a debt more than anything.
"They have been nothing but responsible since the moment they discovered the pregnancy." Lisa began while wiping off her glasses.
"Lynn gave up sports and subsequently everything she loves. Lincoln began working so he wouldn't have to add more financial burden to our parents. I feel like there is no logical reason to be opposed to them." Lisa expressed her thoughts. Leaving out the reality that the split personalities had been back. She had run herself ragged trying to help find some solution to them. Sadly the 2nd youngest Loud sister could do nothing more than she had done thus far.
"I just don't think I can take the idea of them staying like this. It feels like we're fighting each other..." Leni confessed. In her eyes this felt like an us vs them situation, something every one of the Loud sisters hated happening.
After everyone had said their peace, Lori was staring at them all. She was unsure really what to say, well, one sentence came to mind, especially as she absorbed everything all her younger sisters said.
"Maybe you're all right..."