"Thank you-" Lori could only be grateful that Luna had a partner of her own, someone who helped her in those times of need. Samantha Sharp was a wonderful woman, a worthy one that Luna labeled a lover in her. "Thank you for being there with her."
"Of course-" Sam was still whimpering in her crucial pain. "I loved her-"
Lincoln kicked a rock, having put some distance between himself and the three girls.
"-I wish I had the courage to actually help her. I was- I was just so scared, and she just snapped and lunged herself at him- Ruh-right in the face of danger-" Sam shook her head. "I can't believe Luna is gone."
Lori inhaled through her nose, exhaling it back out through her kisser. "I lost more than what I never thought possible. A lot of my sisters are dead, when... Back then, it was just one. It- It isn't fair and I wish that it was..."
Darcy, arms crossed, had come out of the woods back to Lincoln. "Hey, buddy..."
"I was stupid to have put you on overwatch," Lincoln addressed, accepting the blame. "It was that bad, Darce. He had them all captured and we were-"
"WE?!" Lori stood up, having overheard him from the log she and Sam sat on. "WHO'S THIS WE YOU'RE REFERRING TO?! YOU KILLED LILY INSTEAD OF ATTACKING HIM! WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING?!"
Lincoln didn't turn around, but merely sighed.
"TURN AROUND WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"
Lynn, having been laying down to recover, turned her head to see Lori approach Lincoln. "Stop it..."
Darcy moved back, unsure if she wanted to interfere or not. "There's no need for inner conflict."
"SHUT UP, DARCY, OR YOU'RE NEXT!"
"Hey, s-stop it..." Lynn tried again.
"WELL, LINCOLN?!" Lori gripped his shoulder heavily and spun him around. "ARE YOU GOING TK DEFEND-?!"
He wound up punching her square in the face, and then kicked her right in the stomach. "As if I had X-ray vision, Lori!"
"I- I told you something was off!" Lori reminded. "You- You know you just needed the excuse to kill something! To kill someone! Goddamn you, sick fuck!"
Lincoln didn't say anything this time, but turned his back to her.
"Wha- Oh, ignore me all you want, but you seriously fucked up-"
"LORI, ENOUGH OF THAT!" Lynn had dragged out the rasping version of her voice. "Fuck!"
She tried getting up, limping away with such determination, scowling at Lori.
"Lynn, you need to get some rest!" Lori mothered away. "Stop."
"You're a fucking disgrace!" Lynn threw. "Hypocrite! You've worked for them, you have no right!"
"Hypo-" Lori rebuked her claims. "What do you even know?"
"You tried to kill us before!" Lynn reminisced. "Caught us, planned to slaughter us! That's the Lori I know! That's the Lori I hate! That's Lori, the Freight! Fuck you and your need to judge him when you're no better! What he did will always be unforgivable, but he never started out being in league with Vial Corp!"
"You and I both put Lily in that situation..." Lincoln dropped coldly. "However it was that she came to be in it, Lori. I hope you remember that."
"Yeesh, some family..." Darcy slipped.
"Guys, guys," Sam jumped in, "Can we not do this? That maniac is still out there! We're only doing him favors by fighting each other."
"Yeah, Red-Skin is right," Darcy agreed. "Oh, where are my manners? Hey, it's Darcy."
Sam held out her hand to shake with Darcy's. "Sam, nice meeting you."
"You put her into train!" Lori blamed.
"You put the bomb into the train!" Lincoln rebounded.
"Wait..." Lynn was there to put the pieces together. "Tr-train-?! You mean that same one that killed twenty-seven people?! Are you fucking kidding me, you put Lily onboard?!"
Lincoln tried to come up with a reasonable excuse. "We didn't know we'd find Lori!"
"Fucking liar!" Lori slapped Lincoln hard. "You've caught us all there. Me, Rebekka and Chandler! No way was that fucking coincidental!"
"L-Lincoln, y-you put my little sister in danger?" Lynn sounded like she hoped it wasn't true.
"Don't turn this on me!" Lincoln panicked. "Not now! And not when we've got Blood to find!"
"You couldn't get anymore worse, Lincoln..." Lynn shook her head. "I can't, I can't with you- With both of you... I'm leaving-"
"Will you stop fucking leaving as if we can afford to?!" Lincoln screeched. "We're out of allies at this point, apart from each other. McMahon's dead, so I don't know where to go to break apart the Kapacity Korp facilities-"
"Whoa, wait-" Darcy stepped back. "No, I only promised to fight for you and look at what happened."
"Darcy-"
"I can't go to war with a company, Lincoln, I'm trying to remain in the shadows... I'm sorry, I can't help you anymore, so I'm going to leave."
"Damn it..."
Darcy disappeared into the woods as fast as she had announced her stepping off. Sam, Lori and Lynn remained now. Wasn't much to to on, but perhaps it was a manageable team to continue after Blood and Kapacity Korp.
"I don't know..." Sam shared. "He had the right technology to neutralize us, you know? We were in there for like, what, a day? Hs tortured us mentally, putting us right on the wall, and making us hold our hand so that he render our powers dormant! He broke my spirits, my hope, and now that he took away the source of my light..." Sam cried again softly. "I can't go back down, I can't, I'm sorry. I'm not going to fight him again."
"I need you-"
"Cool it, inhuman," Lori zipped him up, "Sam here just lost someone, she needs the emotional break."
"Thank you for understanding, Lori..." Sam smiled through her sadness. "I wish I could help, but my heart- It just hurts too much right now."
"It's okay, Sam," Lori assured. "If you want to leave, you can. The three of us can manage-"
"Oh, bite me-" Lynn insulted. "If I didn't need your help, or if I healed, I'd have run far away from here."
"Whatever, Lynn."
"Well," Sam had an idea. "I was hoping we could b-bury not just Luna, but all of them?"
"Bury...?"
"No," Lincoln decided.
"Typical," Lynn scoffed.
"The six of them," Sam nodded. "The clones, Luna, the Lily girl, and the two kids."
"Lola and Lana died here," Lincoln added. "Anyone see their bodies?"
"I'll find them," Lori suggested. "Lincoln, come help me with the bodies."
"You girls are really serious, aren't you?"
"Yes!" They all yelled in perfect synchronization.
"Nothing better to do at the moment anyway..."
Act IV: Bloodier, Chapter IX: In Memory Of
From left to right, it was Lily, Linka, Leven, Lana and Lola, Luna, Lyle and Lindsey in that order, placed in the row of graves that had already been filled. Lincoln stood over Lily's grave, his right side occupied by Lori. "Had I known, I would have never... I would have never-"
"I wish you really listened to me, Lincoln," Lori expressed. "I get that you hate me but that doesn't ever make me wrong."
"Yes it does, you're a shit."
"Ugh..." Lori bent down and patted her hands upon Lily's grave. "I'm so sorry, little sister. I wish you knew that I loved you, I wanted you to grow up. I wanted you to live a full life."
Sam found some flowers around the woods and planted half of her findings on Luna's grave, then giving Lori the rest to decorate Lily's own. "Here."
"Thanks..." Lori set them down calmly, but then shook her head. "This is never the best place where one should be buried, you know? Lily will never be with mom and dad-"
Lincoln and Lynn looked to Lori's way.
"-Is it bad I wished that all of us could be buried together?"
"No..." Lynn voiced. "No, it isn't. I'd want to be buried with my family, too, my entire family."
"It hurts me so much, no one asked for this and I feel confident in saying Lily definitely didn't."
"I'm with you on that," Lynn seconded. "None of us wanted this, it's maddening to say the least."
"It truly is, Lynn. It truly is."
"You three can say your prayers for the fallen, but I'm not staying around. Lori, you're the only one who knows where and when. Either come find me or not at all." Lincoln began leaving, only for Lori to cut him off. "What?'
"Fuck is wrong with you?"
"I'll mourn when the wars are over," he explained. "Step aside."
"This is your sister!" Lori pointed out. "Don't walk away from her!"
"I'm going to come back when this is all over, you'll see!" He promised.
"Lynn?"
"No- I don't know, I really don't..." The zoomer contemplated in providing her aid to Lincoln. "I don't think I will, Lore. These recent events proves we can be killed, so... I- I think I'll relinquish my status as a zoomer. I'd like to live, I want to have a family. I want to grow old."
"That's cute, sis. Shows you've still got a heart. I wish I could say the same about me."
"What, you want something else?" Lynn wondered.
"Oh, I do," Lori admitted. "Something greater than a guaranteed future."
"You wanna-?"
"No," Lori cut off. "It's my burden to know and carry."
"Burden... Fancy word there."
"Girl's gotta know her vocabulary, heh." Lori scratched an itch on her arm. "Hey, uh, since we're here, I guess I should start by giving you that overdue apology."
"Yeah, you want to do that right now, right when our sisters have fallen," Lynn poked. "Takes them dying for you to feel-"
"Oh, come on, Lynn," Lori begged, "Please let me have this."
"Lynn..." Sam seconded, nodding away with a faint smile. "She wants to be the sister you knew again."
"I do... I fucked up, I know, and I did so much wrong-" Lynn never looked at Lori, but had crossed her arms, and Lori kept playing it emotional. "But I'm here now, and I won't leave-"
"You do remember those other three Wolverines are out there, right?" Lynn reminded the blonde. "That's your family, not us. I do appreciate the gesture, but the Loud family has been broken for years. There is no getting it back, even when I dream it, when I am so desperate to want it."
"But you know you want it, that's a goal to achieve..." Lori reasoned. "How do you know you can't get it back if you don't try?"
"Lori, you must be pulling my chain!" Lynn wheezed. "In case you haven't noticed before-"
"I'm speaking hypothetically, Lynn, and from what I can tell, you're just tossing excuses to avoid being part of a family. Tell me, are you trying to?"
"Avoid being a family? I-I just said I dream of it!"
"Just because you dream of it-" Lori stopped. "Lynn, back in my days with them, I dreamed of losing Lincoln in a bombing run. Some fuck up with it, cause you know, it's all dangerous shit. I worried, those were nightmares that told me I was doing more harm, relishing in sinful acts that would make my God ashamed of me. All of those dreams- and I knew I did not want them."
"Those were nightmares- Y-you just said they were nightmares-"
"Nightmares are bad dreams, Lynn, but this is all real, and I want you to know I want to try to be a part of your family again-"
"Why... D-did you leave?" Lynn didn't want to bring it out, but here, under these unfolding events, the terrible circumstances that plagued and defined today, she was too weak to repel the feelings away. She was in perfect disarray, unable to establish a thought of calmness and tranquility when the bodies of the dead, the loss, and the utter humiliation and aoin ravaged her mind. "Why didn't you come back-?"
"I'm here now..." Lori didn't wish to answer, somehow looking to be stronger than Lynn. And yet. "I'm sorry, but I'm here-"
"You're the only one here..." Lynn corrected, shutting Lori down with that statement. "Why did it have to be you?! You, and not any of them?! My other sisters were there longer, they- These ones, The dead ones- The twins, Luna, Leni- They all- They lasted longer, but you-"
"Lynn-"
"HOW DARE YOU SAY YOU WANT TO START IT OVER WHEN YOU TOOK THE EASY WAY OUT?!" Lynn bellowed. "FUCK OFF! FUCK OFF AND DIE FOR ALL I CARE!"
Sam butted in, brushing Lori away. "She needs some space-"
"I hate that you're right, Sam..." Lori gave in, moving away from Lynn. Maybe it was time for her to leave. "Can I trust you to look after her?"
"If she doesn't run away, I'll follow her-" Sam agreed. "Luna would have wanted me to keep an eye out for the others if anything happened to her."
Lori solemnly nodded. "That sounds like the old Luna."
"C-can I ask about her?" Sam requested. "About my Luna when she was young?"
"Luna?" Lori was lightly baffled to be asked about Luna's childhood. "Oh, sure- Sure, uh-"
Right there, in the landscape of Mother Nature, Lori shared the better memories she had of Luna. How she loved to rock the guitar, how she formed a band with Tabitha and Chunk, how she played gigs, which also included in her school. Luna was a passionate one, real heavy on concerts, but you'd know she wasn't bulllshitting anyone- and Sam knew that Lori meant what she said, how she said it.
That Luna had died along the way, and this was what hurt Sam the most. That Luna should never have been killed, long before this day had come.
"Thank you..." It was all Sam could say, showing her gratitude upon hearing the counts of Luna's humanity. "It means a good deal to me..."
Lori simply nodded without a word, waving goodbye before Lynn could blow a fuse, and then she would be gone, far from home again. Just like the first time around, just like it was destined to be.
Far from home.