June 4th, 2030 - Later
Link-B, the Luan clone with lighter brown hair, had grown quite fatigue at this point, having fled from the creepy underground base fit for some cult to do their weird, blood-soaked rituals in. She'd rather not think about it, but had been indeed distracted by the short girl who possessed a white hair set that had a mystery behind it.
Link-D, branded Lupa by the Linka clone, had a rougher version of Lucy's voice, raspy at most but not enough to repel the idea that it was not of a girl's own. Lupa was quite ravenous in attitude and nature, readying herself to get the fuck back into the supernatural realm, which meant she believed herself to be the one and only Lucy. In her point of view, ahe didn't know what to make of these two girls who resembled Lynn and Luan. It was still weird, Lucy had thought them all to be long-dead, and it was the "truth" told to her by Ray Robertson. She didn't know it was a lie, she didn't know that these were products or science, a defiance against God. She didn't know that she was also a part of it, but for one, Lupa had bartered for the power of telekinesis back in there.
The wolf-like creatures were the demons to her, and the guards, poor souls under the control of a formidable demon, maybe one of those Gouelgarrie things. That's what it seemed to her, making the most sense. Here, Lupa interrogated the Lynn clone, levitating her up and pinning her to a tree. "Talk, damn it! How is it you look like my dead sister?! What are you trying to pull?" Back then... Back then, she had believed them to be innocent and clueless about what was going on. They seemed to be lost, and maybe it might have been real, but Lupa, of a demon hunter variety, could not be so sure.
In a crazy world where the impossible had been the stuff of fairy tales and folklore in her younger days as Lucy, Lupa had to be prepared for anything nature would throw at her. Tiramakkuri, Shadow Demons, Gouelgarrie beings, and the goddamn ugly Hellves she hoped to not deal with any time soon. And looking at these two, she hoped that they would not be fucking with her down the line. Perhaps Lupa should not have been scaring them, but training was training, and fear had always compromised them into spilling the beans.
"Why- Why do you sound similar to Lucy?" Lacy scoffed out, arms and legs frantically moving high in the air. "Y-you just saved us just so you can- Can kill us?! Why did you bother?!"
"K-kill...?" Link-B squeaked with fear. "I don't wanna die..."
Lupa grunted, snarling at both of them. She contemplated it, fought by the conflicted state she was in at the moment. "No one will die if you satisfy me with the answers you've got. Now talk!"
""I- I don't know what you're trying to pull, but I can assure you I'm Lynn Loud," Lacy appealed. "Now, I don't know why I sound and feel younger, but-"
"Not only that..." Link-B added in, "but your hair, it's almost paler..."
"What?" Lacy wished she had a mirror right about now. "Bullshit, I have never dyed it! What about you two? You are both different, who's to say it isn't you who aren't my sister's?! Lucy, we all thought you died in a fire! How the living fuck?!"
"I can say the same of you and the rest of the family! For years..." She lowered her shouting voice. "For years, I thought I'd been alone, being the only one to survive that goddamn...-"
"House fire..." Lacy finished for her. "We all ran out front, Luce. We thought we lost you."
"We?" Lupa repeated. "D-did you really-?"
Link-B went up to Lupa and tried to lower Lupa's hand from keeping Lacy suspended in the air. "Most of us ran to the front end, I- I remember clearly-" Flashes of dead bodies laying around a perfect white tile floor ran around her mind, spooking her horrendously. The bodies of Luan's victims, all the murder stuck with the clone, a gradual, traumatizing part of her to tell her that this was going to be the legacy she was created into, to embrace it as her own. Only if she continued it, and never deviated from that path. "Rghhhh..." Link-B pressed a hand to the front of her face. These weren't what she wanted to see.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Lupa asked as she finally lowered little Lacy.
When Lacy landed, she carefully approached the two- and then ducked down to the earth beneath her feet, scooping up a handful of dirt to throw at Lupa. She did that, getting it into Lupa's face. Link-B squirreled away to avoid the incoming fight, yelping out a frightening girly cry.
"Agh!" Lupa wiped at her face, distracted long enough for Lacy to perform a tackle. The Lynn clone cut "Lucy" down to size. The training was paying off just as it had intended to, a courtesy of Lynn's time with the feds. Lacy threw her punches on the downed Lupa before the albino girl slammed her hands onto the sides, striking at the ground. She floated up into the air a few feet, taking Lacy with her.
"Oh, dear!" Link-B shivered, cupping her mouth in fear.
Lupa and Lacy fell hard onto the dirt floor, bodies crushing leaves and twigs. Link-B rushed over to both of them, checking on the damage inflicted on each other. She picked up Lacy first, caressing her gently right as she helped her up her feet. Lupa got up on her own, still itching for some critical answers of this wonky situation.
"Please stop fighting..." Link-B asked of them, only for the two fighting girls to run up to each other and grab each other's throats. The Luan clone tapped into her intelligence and looked for the verbal solution. "Hey, Lucy, y-you say you needed to know it was the real us right? Then... Only I would know this apart from you, but I remember you winning that... Poetry contest, and the prize, it was you-"
Lupa released her grip on Lacy's throat, eyes eluding her current foe to direct at "Luan", distinctly remembering that time long forgotten. Yes, Lucy won it, and it sent Luan spiraling down in jealousy and anger. It should have been her to perform first on there, but an eight-year-old? An eight-year-old goth girl had beaten someone older, namely a sibling from taking that spot? .
"It was you, not me-" Link-B took a fist with her hand, applying it to her chest. "If that's not enough to prove it's really me, then I don't know what will."
Lupa took it into consideration just as Lacy followed her lead and took a cautious step back. "I remember that too-"
"Now it's your turn to prove your identification," Lupa pointed onto Lacy. "Something only Lynn would know."
"Hmmm..." Lacy had a memory. "Toothpaste. We fought over toothpaste..."
Lupa raised an eyebrow. "No, we didn't," she denied.
"Bullshit-"
"Hey, that happened! And Lynn- I mean, you bunked in Lincoln's room for, what, a few days? Talk about being petty, am I right?"
Lupa chuckled, setting her hair down. "No, yeah, I don't deny that, but what I meant is... We fought over my personality..."
Silence. Lacy and B stared down at her, collecting their thoughts and analyzing and processing the equation. Finally-
"Yeah, you don't smile, and your lack of emotions is a killjoy," Lacy spat with no hesitation. "Would it have killed you to smile?"
"Here we go again..." Lupa rolled her eyes, setting her hands to her hips. "Little Miss Sporty here wanting me to show enthusiasm that appeals to her or bust! News flash, not everyone who exists now will ever be like you! Certainly not me, and you'd never catch me watching matches or betting on... Whatever you athlete faggots bet on nowadays."
"I dare you to say that again, grumpy puss," Lacy threatened.
"Guys, please, this is supposed to be a great thing! It's been years since I've seen the both of you. Lynn, like... Ahh, my head's a little fuzzy, honestly. Where did we leave off?"
Lacy approached the tall B and gave her a hug. "You- You disappeared from us... How could you do that to us?"
"Why do you look- Errr..." Lupa corrected herself. "We all look younger than before-"
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious, captain," Lacy sarcastically commented. "And that white hair, like holy shit, did you see a ghost?!"
"Yeah, you girls," Lupa smirked.
"Well played..." Lacy coughed, turning away. "It- It's great to see you again, guys."
"Likewise," Link-B smiled, moving in to hug the athletic sister. "I missed you."
Lupa, the name given to her by the first clone back in the underground facility, had looked around the forest they were in, ever so curious as to where they were and how they got here. For her, she was in another part of the world, fighting against Hoppity Droppity, the silly name of the rabbit Tiramakkuri creature mauling through victims in a chain of small towns. Its Waterloo happened to be in Oregon, where she slated the creature using carrots. Who would have thought that the vegetable would be its downfall? It felt only a day ago that it happened.
Lacy could still see herself, as Lynn, honing her combat skills and firearms training. Paula was there, Margo was there, and Polly- Lynn had flipped the tall Polly a few times, proving that being short had its advantages at times. Nothing made sense to her, only being a blur, the final scene being the four female agents grabbing a bite to eat at a fast-food joint. They were relaxed, sitting on the far end of the place, right across the counter, and the sun was shining right onto them, letting Lynn and Margo have its powerful rays.
How long ago that was, and little Lacy had no idea of the true nature of who and what she really was. Just like Lupa, and certainly just like...
Link-B, the only one Linka had never branded, had been created in her own chamber to serve as the brainwashed, controlled psychopathic murderer Lisa wanted, a bodyguard, a puppet of multiple ones to keep the board running her way. Link-B, part of the first four clones, countermeasures against the opposition who closed in on the Network when they knew for sure the Patriot Division had found reason of their existence to be authentic.
But she was different from the rest. She had only seen flashes of Luan's life, never staying in one place in her mind for too long. The very things she had seen, the sins of Luan's past, were the dead she left behind. The gory bloodbath, the lifeless corpses, and the frightening intensity her heart had succumbed to when Link-B experienced it, being haunted enough for the grisly, graphic images to traumatize her. They weren't her memories, couldn't be. She, Luan, had never killed anyone... And yet... Her hands... Those hands had gripped the death tools and sold souls to the grim reaper.
It was not Link-B who killed, but it sure as hell was Luan. And she was modeled to be that version of Luan, so... It was her kills to share as well, if anyone would get down to it. And just like Luan right now, Link-B did not wish to remember or picture those corpses, the epitome of the ugliest, brutal act of dark human nature. Dark human nature, what there was in the world, disguised or hidden by false, beautiful lies. This, Luan had plowed through, having seen the deception of it all. Maybe it was all just a masquerade, but at the horror end of it, the truth proved too much for Luan, and therefore-
Link-B needed the lie.
B. A believer of sunshine and rainbows, so that she not fall and lose herself again to the dark side of the world. Not again.
C. A daredevil just like Lynn, who believed throwing herself into fights and death situations would make her be judged by the gods above. If she lived, she was worthy to play the game. If she died, she would amount to a loser, and the idea she justified all of this with would die with her.
D. A hunter with nothing to lose, and nothing to live for. Much like Lynn, Lucy tossed herself into death battles with everything supernatural ever to exist. She bled a little every battle, earning a scar or two even, forever embedded into her body. And with each kill, each monster whose life she had taken from the supernatural realm, her soul, the very remainder of it, died, and died, and died until there would be nothing left- if there was something of it that remained, that is.
Speaking of supernatural creatures-
Lupa heard a faint rustling from behind. Naturally, the second nature attached to her character made her take a sharp glance over her shoulder, inspecting the location of the noise. Back there, in the long, concrete maze of halls and rooms, the telekinetic albino had sensed a weird aura, and one that radiated a negative presence. Lucy gained that ability overtime, from the feeling of being too destructively close to the demons and other entities. This particular feeling, a sort of chill that she felt all over her body, even right underneath her tight spandex suit, had come to warn her of an ominous presence of an enemy.
An enemy-
The Shadow Demon had revealed itself only to her, rising up from the dirt ground, having stretched a casted shadow mere feet before her. It, being a gray, muscular entity, the body equivalent of a man. It was generic in look, with no reproductive organ being visible, just the way these demons came like. Its face, empty with no single hair follicles whatsoever. Its eyes, trapezoids that Lupa could not distinguish as either a parallelogram or obtuse shape, were purely white, but the eyelids, diagonally placed at the corners of the eyes, were the blackest parts of the Shadow Demon's entire skin. And then it opened its mouth to reveal how monstrous and hostile it might have been, the teeth of a deadly carnivore hungry for human flesh. This was a true Shadow Demon live and in person. And its eyes were set on Lupa. "Hellooooooo..."
Lupa looked back to "Luan" and "Lynn", both of whom were still hugging and embracing each other's long-lost company. They didn't notice her or the creature that stirred before them. Lupa looked back- and found the demon had vanished. She blinked, started wandering ahead of her, deeper into the forest. She had only disappeared further down when Lacy called out to her, but Lupa had no reason to turn back. She went and gave chase, pursuing the likely foe that planned to kill her. It knew. It sensed her and it knew what it wanted.
"Lucy!" Link-B yelled from far behind.
Lupa wpuld have never been able to outrun any Lynn Loud, so she relied on her new ability and floated off the ground fairly quickly, almost as if she had mastered it right away. Lupa had already an idea on how to use her telekinesis, and the applications were nearly limitless if she were creative enough. She came standing lightly on top of a thick tree branch, arms set on the tree's side and the branch.
"Lucy, get down from there!" Lacy ordered from ground level.
"Forget that, how is it possible that she can do... Whatever she's doing?!" Link-B cried out, feeling envious of Lupa. "That's so amazing and scary at the same time!"
Lacy had the thought to jump up- and never picked herself up off the ground. She landed and let out an irritated grunt. "Why her?!"
Lupa went leaping around the trees, going lightly from branch to branch, scouting for the odd Shadow that felt out of place. The clones on topside level were quick to lose her when the sun shone in their faces, blinding them from the spots Lupa had gotten an advantage to. They went this way. Lupa went another way, going higher around the treelines with every jump she made and landed. And she stopped only when the Shadow Demon came spiraling downwards, swooshing like a bullet and striking against her body. It pinned her to the tree she stood on, violently slamming her back hard that it jerked her head back, creating a headache filled with some mental white noise that rang out in her ears.
"Urghhhhh..." Lupa gritted her teeth, fists forming away for the swinging to start. And she swung at it as the ringing subsided from her head. But she missed, hitting only the air right where the demonic force was. It made itself untouchable, unkillable by the mortal, much to her aggravation. "Damn it, you-"
The Shadow Demon phased right through her, and yanked her back by the collar of her suit. Lupa grunted when being slammed again, this time giving out when she'd been hurt more this time. And the demon had drained her inner fight enough for it to state its unholy business. "Be wary not, not..." It said, voice being deep, raspy and purely distorted, just as Lucy would have expected of one of these things.
A Shadow Demon, the living essence of a truly evil human's sins that took form into a physical entity. This one, created by the vicious, unspeakable crimes of one person who had existed either in the now or before Lupa's time, essence being that strong to give birth to it. Just what she needed.
"What do you want with me?"
It placed its head right in front of Lupa's face, smiling erratically and snarling visibly that it had drooled for some reason, saliva dripping inches away from her suit. And then, its long, black tongue rolled out, slithrring its way right into Lupa's ear, licking deep into the albino's ear drum. "I smelled an odor I like-like... I want it, want it-"
"Get the fuck-" Lupa protested, but stopped when the carnivorous fiend turned his giddy, smiling face into an openly shocked expression. The tongue slithered back into place, and it retracted itself, establishing distance from the demon hunter's clone. For a clear moment, Lupa gained control of her sense of touch, feeling the sweat drip down the back of her neck and from the temples of her forehead. She'd been scared all the way here, and it wasn't until the demon had arrived for her to suddenly realize how damn frightening and perilous the journey was. She dared not make a move, but looked to the sides and triangulated all possible routes to escape. Jump down, go left. Jump, right. Down. Up. Left. Diagonally. Backwards. Dead dropping and stopping herself with her new gift. Maybe even float upwards and fly away. And then, her window had closed just as it had started, losing it to her evaluation of exit strategies.
"I smelled the anger within you, and..." Lupa hadn't seen a nose, but when it sniffed the air, she connected that the demon had triangle shaped slits where a sniffer should have been. Its whole face, based in the literal shape like a skull, and that meant its features, save for its eyes. "It's... Strangely familiar, familiar..."
"Wh-what?" Lupa remained still, backed to the tree. "Anger? I-"
"We are more connected than you think..." And with that, the silhouette chuckled softly, emitting that clear tone of unnatural evil she wished not to here. It phased right into the ground, sinking away until it was gone. "Farewell, blood of Loud..."
"Hey..." Lupa dug her hands into the thick branch, trying to grab the hostile with her hands, in desperation to understand what the creature of sin meant by that. "Come back... Come back, you-!"
"Lucy!" Lacy wailed from below, throwing rocks at Lupa to alert her. "Climb down- I mean, fly down here! Talk to us, sis! I don't know if splitting up is a wise choice!"
Lupa dove in a freefall right off the tree, decreasing her falling speed and landing elegantly right at Lacy and Link-B's feet. Right, the demon only projected itself to Lupa and Lupa alone, good for her, she'd never explain what that really was, and keeping the world's apart, always a tough job that needed thorough cleaning. "Sorry..." She had no reason to correct them; this was better over the truth. "What on earth was I thinking...?"
"Hey... D-did I- Did we do something?" Link-B wondered. "L-Luce... You have no idea how much-" The Luan clone could never use words to express her feelings, and trying to right now, she teared up only slightly, with Lacy sticking at her side and patting her shoulder for a perfect sisterly comfort. "It's so unrealistic... All of these years, and you- Look at you, you changed so much, like...-"
"Yeah, what's with the snowy hair and the flying?" Lacy directly asked. "Hey, you're not part of... Whatever this shit was, are you?"
"What, you mean those beasts back there and that old man and white-haired girl?" Lupa raised and waved a finger around, gesturing to Lacy. "Not a fucking chance there, sporty."
"How come you have that, huh? You and not us?!" Lacy was quick to suspect the albino heavily. "And what's with that?"
Lupa looked down at her clothes when Lacy pointed down at it. Sure enough, the fourth letter of the alphabet took most of the front's space, fonted in a regular white color. "Uh, I don't know, what- What does D mean? And why do you have letters, too? I should be asking the questions to you!"
"Hey, don't make any assumptions-"
"But you can?" Lupa countered. "Isn't that a little too hypocritical for your taste? Do you even know want that word means, little Lynn?"
"Hey, if you wanna go-"
Liby grunted and stepped in between them, holding her arms out to block them should there have been a fight. And she knew Lupa would likely win with her clear advantage. "Hey, please don't- I'm not gonna have you two bicker about like a pair of savages, damn it..."
"Luan-"
"Hey, I dreamed of such a moment since so long, and- And I forgot what it was like to dream-" Link-B only knew the darkest corners of Luan's mind, seeing more of the dead than the life. Here was the life, being plagued by the looming dark- unless she succeeded to prevail against it. Prevail with her words. "Don't do this here, dang it! Not now, not yet! Let me-" She knew pain again and cried. Eyes red, a blurry vision, unsteady, shaky voice that she struggled with to keep her words straight as teeth. "Let me have this, let me have this... Let me have this again..."
Lacy stepped back, disconnecting herself from Link-B's hand. Lupa did the same, scoffing and crossing her hands.
"I don't fucking know, okay?" Lupa did her best to answer the questions, only planning on lying about her telekinesis, naturally. How everything else came into play and effect, she did not know, nor did she care. "Shit, I don't know what to make of all this... It's rather weird to be here and see you again. I don't-" She sighed deeply before continuing. "I don't know what to think here... But if I'm to be honest-"
Link-B then knew she was not ready to hear Lupa's words, and dared to put a hand to her for forfeit. Not even that. "Hey-"
"I accepted that my entire family died in the fire..." She shut them down, breaking apart what joy they had gained within the time span. The utter hurt in Link-B's eyes didn't seem to phase or bother Lupa, let alone gnaw at her sentimentality. Lacy had to be the stronger of the two and comfort the disappointed, broken girl further, this time hugging her fully and turning her back to Lupa. The glare between the Lynn and Lucy MK IIs was an intense battle by itself, daggers and bullets being exchanged between the two. "What?"
"Don't even start with that, dude," Lacy warned, hands still occupied with the tallest clone. "We're here, what do you call us? What are we to-?" She stopped herself right after realizing that Lupa might have said far worse words to scar and fracture them to the point that sticking with Lupa would not have been the ideal plan. "No, no, you shut your damn mouth! I don't- We don't need to hear that! I'd never want to know that you... You just-"
It confused her so much; little goth Lucy, changed, maybe reduced to this nothing of a soulless woman, a mere girl who did not look anything like that sister "Lynn" had fought her with back home, had let go of it all. Moved on, and forgot-
Lacy sniffed. Lupa... Had... Seemingly forgotten them, took a step forward... No, it couldn't have been like she said, that's what Lacy wanted to believe. The Lynn clone, the stronger one of them physically, had not let go of it. Had not once decided that it was natural, that it happened and that the dead gave been long gone. The presence of Rita lingered on, Lynn Sr's voice echoed through, his content tone of voice expressing the mutual love for all of his sweet, amazing children. There was that smell of the goulash "Lynn" could still detect out of the air, recognize it from any other goulash dish in the world. Vanzilla, the one and only vehicle they've ever owned, stationed upon the driveway, when it wasn't flooring down the Royal Wood roads to get to school, work, and wherever they needed to go. Its rusting, happy blue color, the odorous smell of the seats, the exhaust not one of them could handle- all of this, and yet... Why did she remember it this easily?
All those years ago, Lacy and Link-B would have never forgotten, in such the same way Lynn and Luan would not have. It meant so much, all the reason, the perfectly imperfect motivation to help push them down towards the path each of them walked on today. The realization that was, through the darkness, from the darkness.
Lacy, still gripped by the past. Maybe it was just regular human nature to mourn and be hurt by it all, but... With Lupa, she had come to think, wonder. Was "Lucy" here wrong to no longer be bound by the past if her claims were true? Was Lacy, the girl who would do everything for peak physical strength and reinforced mental barriers, the weaker one between her and Lupa? Bound, tied, chained to the tragic past, it made her... It kept her from moving forward, and if it was so, then maybe Link-B was just the same.
Lupa, the Lucy clone, had laid it on them. It was a harsh truth that could cause a tsunami, and they'd never know it until a city would be flooded. It was the wildfire that consumed acres and acres of land, never stopping until the entire globe was set on fire. She was the Epitome of Coldness, the Witch of the Snow, the Ice Queen Eternal, the Albino Black. Her destructive power, equal to an earthquake at the very least, unleashed by using her words from her mouth, the translating gateway of her uncensored, non-limited, freely-spoken mind.
The life and the dead, coming together for the first time in years, and never knowing what the other has gone through. Lupa, the demon hunter. Lacy, the FBI agent, and Link-B, the murderer driven to homicide by insanity. Sisters. They were sisters bound by the blood ties... And beyond that, they were nothing. If not for that...
If not for the blood...
It would might as well have been that they didn't need to be a trio, no reason to stick together after all...
"I told the truth," Lupa simply replied, having been nothing but nonchalant all this time. "I'm well over it all, Lynn. I lived thinking... That it was just me who left the burning house. "I went-" The recollection process began. "-To the back, escaped that way... You guys, none of you-" Hands turned into first, betraying her lifelessness and zombified state. "-None of you followed... Nobody came out, so I thought-"
Link-B heard Lupa through her own tears, still cradling Lacy tightly.
"I ran, I didn't know how to accept that-" And Lupa's emotions came to light. The sparkling in her blue eyes grew clearly, the top red lip twitched, almost quivering. She conjoined her lips forcibly and puckered them to calm the tidal waves of her rising pain. That of which she had to bury for the mission she took. Lost. "-I just... Held it back, all of it. All the memories of you."
"How?" Lacy pryed. "You-"
Betrayal.
"Luce..." Lacy disliked the taste of defeat, and this now, it proved to be the opposite of a victory. "Aren't- Aren't you happy that we're-?" She had to bite the big one and ask away- and Link-B berated her with a shove and a shocked glare with her green eyes looking into Lacy's, trying to understand why she asked what she did, and then Lacy realized that there was more to B in terms of intelligence and thinking. And it helped give Lacy a beating to her character.
They both turned to Lupa, praying for the right answer unworthy to trek. "No, no, I didn't expect you to be alive... It would be better to be if you weren't..."
"L-LUCY-"
Link-B broke into a run and raced away into the woods, ultimately destroyed by the Lucy clone. Lacy raised a hand to try and stop her right before, and her mouth opened up only for a squeak to peep out in the air, and all hope had indeed been lost again in that long, fragile moment. Lupa had caved the poor Luan clone in, basically having told her that a dead Luan was better over whatever she was. This also applied to Lacy, too. Lacy, who gave no chase after "Luan".
And Lupa just watched it unfold.
"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT?! WHAT, ARE WE ALL OF A SUDDEN INFERIOR TO YOU?!" Lacy grabbed a rock off the ground and heaved it at Lupa. The albino dodged it with a flick of her arm, redirecting it away into the left side. "NO, YOU DON'T GET TO DODGE IT!"
"Watch me," Lupa beckoned.
"I'M GLAD SHE'S ALIVE, UNLIKE YOU, UNGRATEFUL LITTLE-" Lacy was flipped hard on her back, falling with her arms flaying up in the air. This was followed by Lupa dragging her by her feet, scraping her against the dirt. "HEY, YOU STOP THAT!"
"Hey, let's not kid ourselves..." Lupa kept a hand down to Lacy, preventing her from getting up. "I've been on my own, for so many years, and I don't even know when in time we are, do you? I grew up without family... And that's the sad truth about it."
It was Lacy's turn to convey her emotions.
"None of you guys around me, what was I supposed to think? And then... And then I accepted that it meant absolutely nothing in the long run. You wanna say those words, like family, sisters, and whatever the fuck comes outta your mouth. It means nothing to me because... Well, I guess we just lose it along the way."
"What? No, no, we don't just lose it along the way!" Lacy retaliated. "It's not fucking puberty, you idiot! Family is sacred, don't you know?! We're literally the last bunch alive! You, me, Luan, and back home at Aunt Rinn Reagan's place, Lily and the twins-"
"Wait, what?" Lupa hiccuped, stopping Lacy right there. "Who the fuck is Rinn Reagan?"
"Oh, right!" Lacy had bypassed the fact that Lucy was caught up to speed. "So, our mother had a younger sister she never talked about. Turns out that the sister, our aunt Rinn, she's been like, exiled and disowned by mother's side of the family because she's, well, a lesbian. Yeah, our auntie is gay."
"You mean to tell me... Lily... Twins, they're-?"
"Alive, Lucy, alive and well... Luna, Lori, and Lincoln..." She halted again. Those last three, lost to the world. Two of whom were dead, reported by the news outlets. Lincoln and Lori Loud, the Freight fuckers. Luna Loud, an alcoholic with a violent temper that ended up in Luan's hospital visit and her getting kicked from Rinn's place. "Most of us... We all made it out of that fire, Luce. We can all go back to Royal Woods... As soon as I find out what's happening."
Lupa still felt the presence of the Shadow Demon stalk her about. "I... You guys, really?"
"Yes..." Lacy tried to reel her in. "We've been trying... Please, just give us a chance... Give us a chance to remind you what a family is, and can be."
The forest grew quiet to them, leaves no longer rustling, wind no longer howling, and the life draining to a deadened state.
Carly had drawn her blades out, watching from cover afar, watching the clones through the reflection of the katanas in both hands. She didn't attack them just yet, having been sold on the dialogue exchanged between them, about family, friends, snd that love that could never be bought or sold. The love that was purely priceless. Carly helped herself to some feels and remained pit, eavesdropping while relating to them in a sorta sense. Right... Family matters most...
"Family..." Lupa repeated. "W-without me-"
Lacy took it deeply. "WE DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE ALIVE! DON'T BLAME WHAT YOU'VE BECOME NOW ON US ALL!" Her screams were to the highest degree, she shook the forest, and various birds flew into the openings all around. Something terrified them, maybe it was her voice, maybe it was the Shadow Demon moving about, still spying on Lupa, or maybe it was just the force of nature at work. Maybe. "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! I DIDN'T-"
"I know..." Lupa sighed. "Lynn, I know... I'm... Sorry."
Lacy took a breather.
"I just wished that I ended up with you guys, too..." Lupa shut her eyes, brooding like Batman, head dangling lowly. "Fuck you..."
"That's all I wanted to hear from you..." Link-B emerged from behind a large tree, wiping away at her eyes as she smiled widely. "I knew you had a heart..."
"Maybe..." Lupa grunted, plopping her shoulders. "So... Where do we go from here, huh?"
"We run far from here, as much as we can," Lacy offered. "I gotta come back here with the right authorities to settle this score."
"I don't want to be involved..." Link-B decided. "I just want to go home..."
Lacy hit a conflicting choice. Link-B was still delicate as she looked like, so maybe prioritizing her would be better than focusing on the Halloween-flavored spook-tacle of an adventure not fit for the faint of heart. This, it didn't apply to "Luan" at all, and not fot "Lynn" herself as well, in some degree. Maybe "Luan" needed to be benched, returned to Royal Woods to ensure her own safety before Lacy could make her move against the Black Network and get all the answers to the important questions. Lupa seemed a good choice to accompany her, no doubt about it. The two of them, returning to the Network and vanquishing the entire board made of whomever they were.
June 10th, 2030
Gotta admit, Lacy had a nice plan, and it didn't go their way. The house was still there, but it no longer was the property of Rinn Reagan. Rinn Reagan had died, killed in a burglary a few years back... And to know the year it was now, it proved to be part of some conspiracy led by divine entities to repel and break them down one Loud clone at a time. Rinn, shot to death. The twins, whom Lacy said had been two of the last three sisters remaining, gone. Abducted allegedly. And Lily... Lily was also abducted. All of it, collected from two separate newspapers, and that was before they wanted to do some more digging. Who did it and why? Where were there others, and what could Lupa hope to change with her telekinesis?
A huge mystery to unravel the events of the past few years had opened up for them, and they just had to know what was happening. It didn't occur to them that it might've all been connected as of yet, but down the line, that gate would be ajar to them. The path that would likely lead the three clones to the Louds, and when that happened...
They left the house that was still on sale, untouched possibly due to there having been a resident killed in it, taking off down the quiet street in the early, windy morning of an incoming summer's day in Royal Woods. Lacy and Link-B, returning to an empty nothing of the life they'd been living, and Lupa, the bittersweet doll who had been curious to meet this Rinn person and eager to meet her other siblings again. And she raised her hopes up to find that life fucked her in the ass so hard, the first time in a while, too.
"I can't even..." Link-B led them away, going who knows where at this point. Lacy was in between them, and the caboose Lupa examined the printed newspaper article a fourth time, reading through the details of the murder-kidnapping. Case had to be closed right now, and the three Louds had to be declared legally dead if they'd never been found. There has not been a follow-up article to it, so they had to assume the worst, as much as none of them wanted to.
Lups forgot who she was in the now, obligating herself and the very skills she possessed to serve and aid her two weaker sisters. Fuck a Tiramakkuri's bullshit in Nevada, or a Gouelgarrie creeping through a Florida town, this was more important that needed her all. Family matters. Family always mattered...
"Hey..." Lupa called out to the distraught pair of girls. They stopped and turned around to look at her. "We'll figure this out... We'll figure it out-"
"She's- She-" Link-B stammered with her heart more broken than before. "She's gone-"
Lacy had taken a temporary vow of silence, trying to process the tragic news. Lupa could tell that she was burning with anger and sadness, not daring to release that particular kraken.
"Luan..." Lupa grabbed both of her sisters' hands and pulled them in for a group hug. "Hey, I'm- I'm sorry..."
Lacy directed her eyes at Lupa, still quiet.
"I never got to meet her. Could- could you tell me how she was like?" Lupa asked. "Did she... Was she just as good as a mother?"
Link-B nodded, sniffing aloud. "Y-yeah, yeah, she was. She was just like Lori, you know? Strict, bossy-like, but... She cared, and we could all see that. She cared and loved us as if we were her own, and... We all crowded her house, it was tough, but we never saw her complain."
Lacy flinched.
"She gave us a home, and that, I don't ever think I can repay... Right, Lynn?"
"Yeah," Lacy broke her silence to respond. "Aunt Rinn was a good mother, but all I had to wish that She had mended her rocky relationship with her own parents. I wonder... I still sometimes wonder if we helped her see something she didn't before when we came here. I mean, we've had to, right? We've lost mom and dad and Aunt Rinn lost her sister..." Lacy shed a single tear. "I do hope that we made it happen, that we made her try and... Repair-" She then wiped her eyes. "Sorry, it just- It hurts more than I imagined it would."
"Ditto... I- I don't want to stay in town. Can we please-?"
"Yeah, let's just get the hell outta dodge," Lupa agreed.
Night - Rennis Orphanage
"I didn't think they'd open their doors to us-" Link-B adjusted herself in her bed, eyeing the ceiling that was concealed by the dark. "We're incredibly lucky... So why don't I feel so hot?"
"We're basically homeless now," Lupa pointed out, "So of course they wouldn't turn us away." Albino Black rolled over on her side. She hadn't been thinking about the list of enemies Lucy built up in her deadly campaign. Nothing seemed to be happening, thank the devil himself for that. Still, she was gradually bored of there having been no action. No fight, no battles to win. Rather odd of her to be craving what she feared... Why was that?
"You know," Lacy began, moving herself back from the edge. She and "Luan" had agreed to bunk on the same bed, the room having only two twin beds, and Link-B and Lacy were almost crowded about, covered comfortably underneath the warm sheets.
Lupa, on the other hand, got her bed to herself, and never let herself entangle in the warm sheets, denying herself a good night's sleep. Denied it because she had been pre-adjusted to sleep under the horrible of conditions, and this bed had her feeling like she was lain over a marshmallow, thinking with some claustrophobia that she would sink right in and die. A dumb fucking way to go, and Lupa said no to this. She took to the floor, and right under the window, snoozing fairly easy than she knew if she stayed on the soft mattress.
Lacy and Link-B weren't sure if this was the white-haired girl on her gothic phase, or if she was being her different self they knew not about. It made the two wonder just how much they've changed, and what had happened to each other. And then, some questions hsd begun to be asked.
"So... Are we gonna address the elephant in the room?"
"Which is...?" Lacy rattled her head.
"The girl back there, she called us clones... And-"
"Pffft, what, you think we're fakes?" Lacy had reason to laugh. "Please, I'd know if I was a clone. There can be no other Lynn Loud in the world, I'll tell you that much!"
"Okay, but..." Link-B leaned up. "It was happening way too fast that I forget most of it, but I remember that she called you something. She called you Lucy at first, but then... What was that name?"
"What name?" Lacy demanded to know. "What are you talking about?"
"Right, she called you Lacy, Lynn, and she called me Lupa... What a weird name..." She still found herself wondering who that girl was. The girl with the letter A on her onesie suit. What was the significance of the letters? A. B. C, and her, D. D. Clones... And even stranger still, Lupa had heard the name Dana among the battle back there. Dana... It sounded familiar, felt familiar, and she had sworn to herself that she had never met anyone by that name. "You were knocked out by then."
"Don't remind me..."
Link-B evaluated the mysteries and msde a mental list. "Okay so, we saw a handful of dog creatures, like wolves, basically. There's that, and the armed men. Was that an army? Maybe some sort of government secret project?"
"Secret project?" Lacy scratched her head. "What did they want me there? I've..." And she had to tell them what she was, who she was. "I work with the Feds. Well... Shit... I've been away from that for years, it seems. I made three friends there-"
"Really?" Link-B was baffled. "You? How... What? I... Um..."
"Well, I'm still pretty new, learning the ropes-" Then, Lacy sighed. "New York, by the way."
"That far...?" Link-B sounded envious. "Oh... H-how is it?"
Lacy made a promise. "Well... When I take you, you'll know, Luan. You'll know."
Link-B smiled, unseen by anyone in the dark. And Lacy's words, a vow she made in the dark. In the dark.
"FBI agent Lynn, huh?" Lupa snorted away. "Now I see how you were good with that rifle. To think you were a kid playing with fire-"
"Oh, a kid, huh?" Lacy was challenged. "And what of you? You and that thing you do with your hands, don't tell me that's not the same thing-"
"Hey, you should know guns are made as weapons, and my hands, well... I need them for anything amd everything. About this special gift... I don't know, they did something to me... Don't forget, we all came out of gold tubes."
"Yeah... Okay, so suddenly it doesn't sound so far-fetched... Let's say they kidnapped us, wiped our minds clean of the time that we find to be missing. What did they do to us, and for what reason?"
"Well, that's going right into the hypothesis," Lacy chuckled nervously. "Does that mean you agree with Luan? Really?"
"I don't know what to believe... I have nothing to do with those guys. Hell, I don't give a shit about politics, I don't know why-" The monsters in four, that had to be a clue she believed to be connected to the supernatural realm. All those armed goons, she guessed were mind-controlled at the time. And all answers lied within the Network. "I gotta go back there."
"No, don't-" Link-B protested.
"Not without me, you're not!" Lacy dared. "Just because you have this... What, tele-something- You think you're invincible all of a sudden?! Don't be so arrogant and cocky, you're still just a girl, and I'm the one with the proper training here!"
"Oh?" Lupa sarcastically gasped. "Is that why you got yourself knocked out? Too good that you faked it to get their guards down? Tell me, when were you gonna pull that off? Before or after I saved you two?"
"I hate you..."
"Point still stands, it's dangerous-"
"Yes, I'm damn well aware, so you're taking me with you. Even if you don't, I will follow you... Or I'll just, you know, go there myself and find it!"
"Um-" Link-B coughed. "What about me? Are you- Are you really going to-?"
Lacy and Lupa zipped quiet, looking around the dark. It had to be one of them who stayed with Link-B, the clone not capable of being alone due to her mentality to burst at any moment. Link-B had no plan to be alone either, but she didn't want any one of them to leave and jump into the danger, not after getting them back, and not after realizing that they might have stumbled upon a deadly game of agendas involving various monsters.
Monsters both mutated and in human skin, the very base form they took upon since birth. Monsters they could never have a chance to comprehend. Monsters that could justify murder and go on to unleash their own hellish conflict onto the world. Monsters that lied, monsters that stole. Monsters that ravaged through peaceful landscapes, leaving a burning trail in their wake, forever scorching the earth. The monsters... The beings that looked back at them when they looked... When they looked into the mirror. Into the darkness, and outside of the black pits. The monsters, the very thoughts they had when they doubted each other, themselves; hurt each other, be it verbally, physically, or mentally. One way or another, they'd come, and they would come in singles or pairs, clawing away with their harmful devices and tactics to vanquish or damage the souls of the life forces, the poor unsuspecting victims of blind bliss, believers of the illusion, the outsiders emptied and deprived of the storm before them.
Lupa and Lacy, the monsters to Link-B. "No, no, don't- Don't you dare leave, any of you!"
"Luan, you know-"
"No, I don't! You aren't heroines, there's no need for one or both of you to throw yourselves back there! We all got lucky the first time, did we not?! What if the second time...? What if-?"
Lupa flicked on the switch with a wave of her fingers, rising up into the air after pulling the sheets off her. She hovered right in front of them, floating inches above. "Hey, if this is really a government affair, then wouldn't that mean they'd be coming after us? I mean, I don't know how it works-"
"Oh, God..." For all it was worth, it definitely petrified little Lacy into submission. That was exactly how it would go; a mission for this mysterious party, deployed to go after them and either capture of kill, and that meant for the three to be on the run. That, she didn't want. "No, no, it's been days-"
"I dunno..." Lupa floated up into the ceiling, arms held downwards. "Maybe they are setting up the perfect point... We don't know for sure, but I still say we do fight. Well, Lynn and I, that is. Luan... I don't want you getting in our way, so... Of course- Of course, you'll have to remain here until we wrap about this business none of us asked for."
"B-but-" Link-B wouldn't have it. "No, we need to stick together! You two are the only sisters around, and I don't want to separate from you! Don't make me-"
"Luan..." Lacy had agreed to Lupa's decision, voicing her own thoughts. "I agree with Luce here, and I understand your concerns, but she and I are the only ones able to fight against... Well, whatever we're looking at. Jesus, it feels so... So big..."
"Yeah... It can't even be real... It can't be real... C-can it?" Link-B looked to her sisters for answers, and none of them said a single word on it. The silence drawn from them did all the talking. "Oh, my God..."
"Its insane..." Lacy uttered. "But we know what we're dealing with, right? Science experiments at no doubt. In any case... Hey, Luce, you know how to fight?"
"Do you?" Lupa rerouted.
Link-B rolled herself out of bed, jogging to the bathroom. She felt betrayed by the pair of fighters, afraid and devastated to know that she would be on her own for an unknown time period. They'd lesve her again, where she'd be crying and yearning for their return. That empty feeling when only after she had been drained of their love for her. Who was she without them? Who was Link-B without all that her family made her? Bad enough the rest of them were gone, now Lacy and Lupa were adding to it, and voluntarily. Link-B, the clone without a true name or sense of her origin, lost in a world where strength, power, and intelligence were two of a few factors that mattered for their survival.
Lupa floated down and sat herself on B's side of the bed. "Don't even worry about her, she needs to learn that she can't join us."
"Yeah, I know that... But the thing about her is that I'm just somewhat worried for her. We're not just telling her to stay back from the danger, but we're also just showing her that she's... You know, weak and powerless to run with us. This will destroy her, if it isn't already..."
Lupa nodded, giving it thought. "Wow, that's actually interesting to hear, and you're not wrong... Yeah, you're not wrong, but Luan's still got a good soul, and that's just as good as what we've got. No way I could ever bring her to this shit."
"Likewise... So, what say we leave tomorrow?"
"Yeah, the faster the better. Luan can take care of herself here..."
Lacy got up and wandered into the hall. "I'll be right back, I just wanna make sure she's fine..."
"No rush," Lupa commented, running her fingers around the bed cover. "No rush at all..."
Bathroom was unlocked, Link-B having never locked it. She tried to hold it back this time, trying to reach an understanding. Her hands met the sides of the sink built into the wall, breathing risen up to a panting, drawn from dismay and anger alike. Just like Lacy had said, the Luan clone had begun to present both herself and the other two clones she hoped to be stuck with. Herself for not being good enough, it seemed. Not anymore, not that psychotic murdering woman she had been, but a deadened girl who wanted to live again. Why was it that she found herself to be brought right back to it? Back to the obstacles that kept her from the settling of her life? Always something... Why?
Lacy knocked, peeking into the narrow bathroom. "Uh, hey... You okay?"
Link-B gave no immediate answer, insisting to only stare at the reflection of the new Luan she saw.
"Luan?" Lacy went in and approached her from the side, placing a hand to the taller girl's back. "Please, say something-"
"That's not how I remember it," the comedienne whispered.
"Remember what?" Lacy followed the latter's eyes to the mirror, looking down on her own reflection. She saw for herself yet again the complete makeover as she deemed, and felt disgustingly violated at the thought of having been tampered about. Her hair, reset to a paler brown color, and her skin- it almost looked like there was a flushing of her skin color, which left her looking slightly pale, but only just. It was her, but the mirror betrayed the found belief of it. Clone or not, something had happened to the three of them. No, the four of them. She wasn't so quick to forget the younger albino they'd left behind.
Link-B was just the same in the attributes, hair being a light brown tone, more natural than Lacy's at that. She had the freckles, the height, but not the teeth that needed fixing. No braces either, and for sure she remembered having those, only that they were extremely loose from never being tightened again, to the point Luan herself had removed the wiring from both jaws at some point. No, Link-B's teeth hadn't the stainless metal brackets attached to any of her pearly whites. More and more had it been scaring her to an uncomfortable level. "Look at me... I'm not the same person..."
Lacy broke her glare from the mirror and turned her attention back to "Luan", sighing. "Yeah, same goes for me... I feel naked, honestly. Bet Lucy does, too..."
"Tell me," Link-B begged, "Is there any way I can change your mind? Like, any way at all?"
"Sis, our word doesn't come lightly, I know this, and... I wish, I wish we could all go down, but-" Lacy simply shook her head and disconnected from touching the second clone. She wasn't as much conflicted, but this was for sure just as hard a choice she had to be prepared to make. "You know I love you, the both of you, and I'd be forcing Lucy to stay here with you. I don't want to leave you along, but I also don't want to go alone. Lucy came with that power, and I need her, no second thoughts on it."
"Oh... Y-yeah, I guess-" Link-B sniffed.
"Sis, I don't want to leave you alone, but we don't have a choice here. The two of us have to go, and we need you to stay put. Can you? Can you please do that for us?"
The poor Luan clone looked down to the sink. "God, I- I don't have much of a choice, d-do I?"
"No... You don't. You don't, and I am sorry..." Lacy kissed her cheek, then dismissed herself by walking backwards out of the bathroom. "Just come to bed when you're ready, will you? I'll leave you alone as long as you need..."
Link-B just waved, not making eye contact with Lacy, only to be left alone with the garbage of it all. Alone again. What change could there have been for her? Just Why, for that split second, did she decide to hope again? And that's when she realized-
She had already been believing in the lies again. Lies, no more. And she cried without the liars around her tonight.
"So, how'd it go?" Lupa had returned to her floor-bed, having ripped off the sleeves of her suit. "Hey, we're gonna need new threads, by the way. I know Clemmons said the attic is full of spares, but we'll break in before dawn."
"Yeah, early bird gets the worm, right?" Lacy returned to her side of the shared bed. "She'll be fine, Luce. She's been strong enough ever since the fire-"
The sharp sound of glass shattering sent them both spiraling into an alarming phase. Lacy jumped out, sprinting to the source of the noise, with Lupa following. Down the hall, emerging from the bathroom, the Luan clone appeared, crying softly while gripping her left wrist tightly- but the blood had poured through, dripping away to leave a trail she so carelessly created. She had cut herself, and succumbed to the pain that she became a puppy, yelping about. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry-" She pleaded to them with her honesty, compelled to speak truthfully, thinking it could help her.
"What did you do?!" Lacy forced Link-B's arms down and tried to pry them apart, a simple task where the skinny arms of the second generation comedienne played a role in it.
A straight cut ran from her left hand, starting at the base just below the palm, to over halfway, right before the arm's joint. The cut was deep as humanly possible, and the blood surged out, startling Lacy effectively that she cupped her own mouth in a petrified response to it. Little "Luan" had scarred herself as the reply to the situation she wished not to face. "It hurts-"
"Damn it!" It was Lupa's turn to give the girl her words, starting with a definite scolding. "What the fuck are you thinking?!" She took action and dragged both girls by their collars, escorting them forcibly back into the bathroom. "Luan" had resorted to death, it seemed, a clear no-no Lupa could not toperate, or accept in any way. She sat the shattered girl, once full of irritating, but persistent amount of laughter, down on one of the toilets, keeping her confined by blocking out the only exit. "Lynn, get some towels, and quickly!"
"R-right!"
Link-B was whimpering with a rhythmic beat, huffing about in an unstable manner while Lupa had her cold, pale hands pressed to the gaping wound, doing her best to keep the blood from flowing out. "I'm sorry, please-"
"Are you seriously trying to end your life?!" Lupa, the cold soul of a human vessel with the resolve of the ex-Freight, the Ungodly Stormbringer. "Hey, look at me! Look at me, damn it!"
"Lucy-"
"Don't you understand?! Don't you understand we love you too much to see you die?!" Lupa basically screamed at the clone. "WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO HARM YOURSELF?! WHY, LUAN?!"
"I'm sorry-" It was all she could manage to muster.
"SORRY?!" Lupa went hysterical, shaking the clone with one of her hands she unhooked from the wound. "YOU'RE SORRY?! APOLOGIZING WON'T HEAL THIS UP, LUAN!"
Lacy returned to the stall with multiple brown towel sheets in her hands. "This is all we've got! And can you stop screaming? We're gonna wake the whole place!"
Lupa groaned with frustration and rotated to grab the towels and apply them. "Fucking shit... Godfuckingdamnit, you..."
"Lucy-" Link-B squealed, only to be cut off by Lupa.
"No, not... Another... Word..." She meant it, growling grotesquely quiet and strictly mean for "Luan" to keep shut.
"Luan... Why?" Lacy let the flooding guilt break through the dam of her heart, drowning every feeling, thought and action up to here. This was the outcome of the mission she and Lupa had to see to the end. There shouldn't have been any consequences for what they chose, but now... Here, and this... They drove their beloved sister to hurt herself like this, just one of many possible slashes across her arms if they left her like this. They risked leaving her to successfully kill herself if they did leave nonetheless. If they did...
The blood soaked through the sheets, rendering it semi-ineffective to keep pressure on it. Lupa needed something more tougher. "Damn it, these aren't fucking holding! Lynn, find some rags or something!"
"On it!" Lacy stormed out again in a hurry, scavenging around for better supplies.
"Damn it to hell, Luan..." Lupa continued to apply all her force down on the narrow slash, feeling the latter girl's warm blood run through her hands and splat down in driplets, forming a puddle in between their legs. "I can't even begin to think of how messed up this is. I'd never do this to myself if I were in your shoes..."
It made her feel significantly worse than before. "I- I'd rather kill myself than be abandoned by you-"
"Oh, my God, will you stop talking?" Lupa's blue eyes glimmered with anger. "I don't want to hear that crap from you!"
"N-no," Link-B decided, "I'm not shutting up... I mean it, Lucy. I'd- I would gladly end my life the minute you two leave the orphanage."
"Y-you are being ridiculous right now...! It's too soon, Luan! Too soon for you to leave us! And, you're threatening us with suicide! Y-you idiot-" Lupa developed reddish eyes, swelling from the heartache. "Fourteen years, Luan! Fourteen long years since I've last seen you... Believe me, I never want to leave you alone again!"
"And yet..." The brunette pulled Lupa's hands off of her own, and she yanked the towels back to let the blood keep pouring out. "You are ready to do it to me... This is nothing short of hypocrisy..."
Lupa objected by shaking her head. "I thought you understood it from scratch, you idiot. We have to, to protect you... At least... I- I want you to be safe here, that's the whole point of-" She trailed off, eyes now averted all the way. This place was not a safe haven for Luan, but her deathbed of despair and agony. No way, no way could they leave her alone here, as much as they wanted to have done so. Options were closing out before them. "Luan..."
"I can't handle it, I just can't, Luce! I don't want it to happen again... I don't want to let you guys go, nit even if there's that chance- That one percent chance I may never see you again! And you know what? I-" She held out her left hand, shooting it forward right into Lupa's face. "I didn't do this to just try and kill myself, I did it because I just feel like a burden to you! You have some magical, freaky power-up, and Lynn's a law enforcement officer! You tell me how I can amount to that, to be on your levels of- Of- Well, being prepared for danger! I feel so... Normal, so useless to you both. I can't even protect myself... All I can do is just run away with a tail between my legs... I wish, I wish I could be on your level... I wish..."
Lupa just glared down, eyes becoming dead with the girl's truth. "I see..."
"Is- Is that all you're gonna say?" Then, Link-B broke into a laugh. "You're fucking kidding me, right?"
"I don't know what you expect me to say, Luan!"
Lacy returned to her squad with a fresh blue towel she borrowed from one of the other orphans. "Here, use this!"
Lupa utilized her telekinesis to raise Link-B's arm and wrap the towel around it. "Luan, you hold onto it, and don't you dare let go for one second, got it?"
The girl had agreed, hissing when the towel stung her. "Ow!"
Lupa sprang up on her feet. "And don't you dare move, Lynn and I need to have a little word..."
"What? Hold on-" Lacy was pushed out of the stall, taken away out of Link-B's sight on Lupa's behalf. "Lucy-!"
"Shut up and listen..." Lupa had no choice but to give in. "This isn't gonna work... We leave, and I can pretty much guarantee-"
"No, I don't believe that! She'd never-"
"She just fucking did, Lynn!" Lupa reminded Lacy harshly. "I didn't think-! Look, I didn't think it would hurt her this bad. I... I underestimated just how much...-"
"Can we afford it now?" Lacy eagerly wondered. "Can we really leave her alone here? Or... Is one of us gonna have to stay to watch her?"
Lupa sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead. "Jesus fucking Christ... Which one of us, Lynn?"
"Y-you're- That fast? I thought-"
"We clearly don't have a choice here..." Lupa felt cold now that her arms were exposed, teeth chattering just a little. "I wanna nominate myself-"
"You? Why not me? I can-"
"Lynn, I'm pretty sure I have more advantages than you. I don't mean to be blunt, but I think my skills are just as good as yours."
"J-just as good as-?! Hey, I'm the only one with the firearm training and combat. All you can do is just fly and control things without touching them!" If only she knew the real Lucy.
"I think I'm okay, Lynn."
"If-" Lacy hypothetically spoke, "If I agree with this, I do want one favor."
"Yeah? Sure, what is it?"
"New York," Lacy requested. "I need you to go there, tell my friends of what's happening, and that I'll be coming back soon."
"Friends... Of the Bureau?"
"Yeah, three of them. Margo Jefferson, autumn hair. Polly Peine, tall brunette, and manly in appearance. We call her the Pain Train sometimes. Last one, Paula Ward, blonde, ponytail. They're inseparable- I mean, we all are. If they're still working there, schedule should be the same. Early morning to late evening, full time crap. Plenty of overtime."
"Uh-huh... Okay, I think I got it. I go to them, tell them you're alive, and then what, bring them as my back-up?"
"If you promise me you don't get them killed, I would like that, yeah!" Lacy threw a fist into the air with triumph. "My ladies are reliable sharpshooters... Well, that's my opinion."
"Hey, I'll take an army of toddlers with guns if it were possible. Okay, but how will I verify I know you?" Lupa raised an eyebrow. "It's going to be weird when a white-haired girl- Ugh- Comes into their lives and tells them all this. That you're alive but altered in many areas, and everything happening all over. Oh, God, this is really insane."
"We're well past that, thank you!" Lacy screamed. "Now, regarding that, I have a saying, our motto we've made to be significantly meaningful. Never say die. Those three words should be all the reason they need to trust you."
"Never say die, huh?" Lupa grew curious. "Sounds like there is a story behind that."
"Well... Yeah, there kinda is, but I'll share it some other time."
Lupa peered her head out, looking around the hallway. Nobody had been disturbed in their sleep as of yet, a mini miracle at best, but the trail of blood droplets would arouse some unnecessary, questionable suspicion they did not sorely need. "Clean-up duty..." Lupa decided, applying the role to herself and making a break for the hall.
"Hey!" Lacy hissed like a mouse. "What are you doing?"
"Hiding the evidence of what she did!" Lupa had to only wipe a portion of the hall's creaky, wooden floor, not having trouble with it. "I mean sure, we can say one of us had a period, but I'm not stuffing a tampon on my vagina, man! Ugh..."
"Um... Too much information, perhaps?"
"Oh, please! Don't pretend you never had a period, ha!" Lupa guffawed at Lacy while running her feet through the trail, letting the soles of her suit soak up the red drops of Link-B's blood. "Unless you've got a penis, I wouldn't ever believe it!"
"Thanks for the image..." Lacy groaned. "Olay, it's settled... You, tomorrow morning-"
"Change of plans..." Lups decided to go now; the faster, the better to return to Rennis. "I'm going in a rush now. There and here... But don't worry, I will fix this- I will win this, Lynn, I'll succeed."
June 11th, 2030
Morning came, and Lupa had left on that note, merely waving the two temporary goodbyes as they all abandoned the restroom. She ran the opposite end of the hall, and they returned to the room they'd been given. Lacy made sure Link-B slept with the blue towel dispensed around her injured arm, the result of self-infliction. She cuddled, cradled and caressed the girl with all of her love, holding her as she slept, and Lacy's own eyes had been giving out not long. Ever so still, had she known fear throughout the night. Before she slept, as she faded, there was that grave concern "Luan" would break out of Lacy's arms and finish the job. She tried to stay awake, but the weighing pain of the night made her drowsy, shutting her brain off for the night.
And when she woke up, she panicked and looked over to her older sister, and noticed the towel had been unraveled from her arm. "Hey-!"
Link-B opened her eyes, squinting uncomfortably while the sun cast its bright light through the window, reflecting most of the room. "Mmm... What, mom?"
"Shit... Put this back on!" Lacy took the towel and raised Link-B's cut arm, only to find that the mark across it had suddenly vanished. The blood was still there, but when Lacy wiped at it, the skin cleared up back to normal. She gasped, dropping the towel to touch her skin. "What the actual?"
"Mmm, what is it?" Link-B moaned.
"Its fucking gone, Luan! Look!" Lacy shook her bed buddy's arm.
Indeed, "Luan" took a glance at her arm and ran a finger down all around, eyes then opening with horror and shock. "What- How can this be? I don't feel it!"
Lacy had a sudden thought, in which it had been enough to get her out of bed. "I have to see-"
"See what?"
Without warning, Lacy slammed her head onto the wall as hard as she could. This ended up leaving a large scrape on her forehead, and, being disoriented from the impact, the athletic girl plopped hard on her back.
"LYNN!" Link-B stumbled out of bed, staggering her way to the younger sister. "WHAT THE HELL-?"
Faster than Link-B's own curative properties, Lacy's bruise began to heal right before the clone, leaving her stunned breathlessly. No words formulated for her to express the unnatural state of this, but right away she made the connection that she and and Lacy had the same ability of rapid regeneration.
Lacy blinked idly. "So, did it work?"
"H-how did- How did you figure it out?"
"I- I didn't..." Lacy rubbed her forehead. "How's it look?"
"B-bit of blood, but- It's gone! It's just gone, like mine!" And then Link-B slapped the daredevil of an idiot. "Moron, what if it didn't work?! That's instant brain damage!"
"Hey, well..." She sat up, still playing around with her forehead. "Alright, fine, I guess I didn't think it completely through."
"Clearly," Link-B crossed her arms, berating her- and then laughed.
Lacy found the humor in it and followed her lead, up until she realized something and curled her hands into fists. "Fuck me! If we have this healing speed, then that means-"
"Luan" caught on and gave herself a nice dose of facepalm. "I was... Never in-?"
"I mean... That too, but we've gotta let Lucy know-" Roadblock. "Damn it... She should be far from here at the moment..."
"Well... Are we freaking immortal or something? Cause, I say we go after her! I've heard you guys make the plans. New York, your workplace, and three of your friends, right?"
"Damn your ears... But, I'm not sure about the immortality thing. I'd rather not risk it..."
"So, do we still stay here?"
Lacy nodded. "We're fine here and so is she. I just hope Lucy finds out on her own..."
June 15th, 2030
Hordes of men and women, in business suits or just casual clothing, ran along the sidewalks of upstate New York, the super center of where the magic happened. Tall buildings all over, busy streets, traffic. More of taxi cabs than there was of regular vehicles, the unsettling sight for Lupa. Unsettling in the sense it was too obnoxiously rowdy for her own taste. She was frequently bumped by the middle-aged, beer-gutted men and the glasses-sporting, tall women in fancy high heels, more than half of them looking like they were receptionists of a high-end company, maybe secretaries to some shadow people or assistants of today's CEOs, of companies Lupa gave no affordable fuck about. Her, the strange girl with a suit with sleeves torn out, and the huge letter visible to anyone walking towards her. Those on their cells, those sipping coffee beverages, and those just dead inside, minding their own business, but not enough to ram through Lupa and each other- Why, they didn't have any car whatsoever for her, as odd as she had appeared to be.
Lupa also passed by many food vendors- hotdogs, pretzels, falafels, and plenty of other delicacies were being sold. She got hungry again and desired to stomach down a good weiner with the works, but alas, the clone had no money to spend it on.
Next, she passed by a newsstand, where she hoped to find a map that helped her locate the Feds' building. It eas well past the morning, meaning the three women "Lynn" had for friends had to be inside, doing whatever the agents did. She'd have to wait for God knows how long until these specific three came out again. Lupa decided a nice break would be good- walking for endless miles had its con, but sitting down around here wasn't possible until she met a park.
Lupa rummaged through the titles of the newspapers and magazines. Naturally, her attention had settled on the small portion of the comic book/graphic novel selection, on the right bottom side of the lower half of the stand. Most of them, new and unfamiliar to her, and she questioned why the sudden interest of these comics when a certain title caught her attention;
The Sisters Grimm
Lupa focused on the cover, which depicted three teenage girls of a tan skin color, dressed in some weird, illuminating suits of various colors, all posing for some scrap. It looked rather interesting and relatable to her in a sense. She turned the novel over to read the back;
Jasmine, Veronica, and Isabel Grimm are sisters, each of them only two years apart in age difference. On a fine summer's day, their lives descend into madness when their father, the man who has abandoned them since they were young, resurfaces with a dark secret that throws them into a dangerous journey to find a safe haven known as Grimmtown, a sanctuary of gifted people.
Collecting issues 1 through 7.
"Huh... The Sisters Grimm, huh?"
She was prompted to read it, invested in the book, but the vendor stationed at the stand objected rudely. "Hey, girl! Buy that or put it down, this ain't no library!"
"Asshole..." Lupa cursed, putting the novel back on its place. "Hey, you got maps?"
"Ehhh, over here by the newspapers." The man pointed to the other end, making Lupa work for it. She spotted them- and then she spotted a news article right next to the maps. Her eyes went through the headlines, and it was a nightmare all over again. The same nightmare with a whole new twist added to it, the never-ending spectacle of madness;
Four FBI Agents Still Missing; Director Mathers Still Silent On Case
In light of recent events, four of New York's finest have vanished since early May, with no clues to their whereabouts having been disclosed by the head of the Bureau, Richard Mathers. Numerous witness accounts explain in detail of a shooting between these four agents and and unknown party that is believed to be Five itself, or acquaintances of the infamous terrorist organization. While there has been no comment on this case, it is believed that Five may be responsible or involved in some way with these disappearances. Photos and names of the four agents can be found on Page 12.
She directed herself to the page, coming across these four missing agents. These were the very same women Lacy had instructed her to find. Names were the same ones she recalled, and then, the fourth picture, the stuff of true dread, was none other than that of the real Lynn's own face, her name, and the date they had vanished from the face of the earth.
Lynn Loud Jr, lost somewhere since the fifth of May, as well as her own friends. Stranger and stranger did things get, leaving Lupa with only more questions than answers. As if things didn't get bad enough...
Allison Taggart, a female youngster of a puppet Lisa could sic on anyone, had arrived to the scene, having trailed the clone. She spun Lupa around and slapped a dampener on her right before punching her lights out.
To be continued in Act III, starting in October or November. I'd like that break now, but there's just that one last chapter left before this act is primarily over, and only a great many to go. Lupa, Lacy and yet-to-be-named Liby have arrived onto the story, with their own arc having just begun. Plenty of love between them to witness and cherish- at least until you remember that this is a reimagining of the trilogy where I did not do them any favors.
Not that I'm implying what I'm implying. Heh. Can't say anything about them at this time.
Welp, I guess I'll see you next time. So long, reader-Os.