Timeline X, Chapter Four: Momentum And Velocity
2030
Lana and Lola Loud, the pair of twins belonging to the Loud family tree, had already outrun Alliance Association forces- too many of them for just two young women- around eastern Ohio, plowing and tossing a great number of armed guards on the payroll. But try as they might, the pair of zoomers had always been two of a kind, not to be confused with immortal, invulnerable beings that descended from the heavens, crawled right out of hell. They ran forever, hiding from the ruling regiment of North America for the past fourteen years and counting.
The Alliance Association came around when 1216 Franklin Avenue was still occupied of the Louds, some new type of agency paralleling the Feds and the spooks as it'd been described by the politicians if you dared pay attention. The double A was built to handle the domestic affairs, when one department had already existed. It was a puzzling move but under all radars, enough people had suspected that the double A had some sort of ulterior motive- as if no other agency in existence hadn't, which was funny.
The real purpose of the Association was to tie up loose ends, to clean up the inevitable messes their partners, the board of Vial Corporation, meaning Lisa and her puppets, would make from time to time. Phenos who got out, curious leakers and interested parties who wanted to get in and discover and expose that of which went on under their noses.
In other words, Alliance Association was a janitorial service to clean up the runners. Literally. Lana and Lola were two such phenos who broke out of their cells in a Vial Corp facility, zoomers who were around here and there, caught and seen by various members of the public. It raised definite questions around the communities for sure, but of course, speculation was only just that. Lana was the one eager to expose Vial and make the world see what they were, and still are, but Lola had known it to be mere folly, an unwise quest to enter war that in no way could be won by a pair of inexperienced younglings such as them. They'd be up against countless other phenos, no accounting for winning that particular fight.
Both twins raced through a railyard, losing three personnel vehicles and a chopper when they hid inside a boxcar, sitting there and planning to wait for however long it would take. Luna's stomach rumbled out, signifying hunger. Lola, too, was also starving,
"We should have swiped some Burpin' Burger on the way," Lana wished.
"Yeah, I panicked badly," Lola sighed, "I'm sorry, but we'll be eating soon, we just have to wait for the patrols to leave the area."
"Who knows how that'll take?" Lana sat against the corner of the boxcar. "I'm hungry now!"
Lola listened out, still hearing the helicopter hover around the area. "I am, too."
Lola didn't need to know rocket science to see how much of a toll this took on Lana. The constant running, the hiding, the inability to stop for a measly second and enjoy life as it was meant to be enjoyed. None of that, not for either of them, and it was emotionally exhausting as it was. Just how long could they keep this up until one or the other saw how pointless and futile it was to run away from the unstoppable behemoth?
"What about you, Lily?" Lola walked over to the youngest sister, the teenager Lily Loud. "I'm sorry-"
Lana couldn't bear to look.
"I'll be fine..." Lily let out, placing a tender hand on Lola's face. "It's you two I care about the most."
"Lily..." Lola hugged her sweet angel of a sister tightly. "I promised you that we'll be able to stop running from them all so that we can be a healthy family. I'll see it through to the end."
Lily nodded in agreement, smiling with great content. "All of us, together."
Lana winced, crying softly from the corner. L-Lola-
"Together!" Lola vowed.
There is guilt, guilt in my heart
Of a strong level to break me apart
It comes and goes, a one-person show
The river of my darkness, maintaining its flow
I'm caught in its stream, in which I must rise
For the currents are violent, likely to be my demise
I long to feel right and know the light
But as I am now, I know all but to fight
Far From Now
Lola staggered about, brushing off her body from the impact she made after the hard crash landing to one of the custom worlds she brought into existence, trying to preserve the remnants of the original one. The remnants, pieces of the history that became its own thing in of itself with her help. This one she landed on was another one of those contained ones.
Wait, why were things hazy? What had she just done, and where did she come from? Lola had an unbearable pain striking from inside her own head, driving her to plant both hands onto her face, moaning out with a violent tone. "L-Lana-?"
She found herself in an endless green landscape, touched away by the bright sun and its rays. It was just her, and no one else. No one else...
No Lana around to suppress and rid of Lola's sudden fear. "Lana?"
Do you want to know why I did it? They'll have all sorts of different speculation, but it comes down to this one moment in history-
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!" Lola yelled upon the heavens. "I RESET IT! I TRIED MY BEST TO BRING THEM BACK! I MADE A MISTAKE-"
Her fingertips suddenly glowed a bright light, rendering her quiet as she studied this bizarre phenomena. Silverhead capabilities at her disposal. "I can do this... I can bring them back, I can resolve it, I can make all of the dreams come true- Mines! My own d-dream-"
The real history, I might add.
Now
Lana had fallen into a nap, but it was far from the perfect one, let alone a good one. She wished to have had a pillow, but Lola, being on watch duties, had taken the obligation to use her legs as Lanas pillows- whether or not it helped would not be known by her until Lana would later say so. Either way, Lola wanted her dear sister to be nice and comfortable, to be able to catch some rest before they moved. Lily herself rested her one head against Lola's shoulder, keeping her close company that way.
"You should get some sleep, too," Lola implored. "You need it."
"I'll be fine," Lily insisted yet again. "I've never held you back before, Lola."
"I never said you didn't," Lola defended. "I know you won't, you're quick to move when I need you to, but even a young girl has to stay alive, and there isn't anything to do here but to rest."
"I'm not feeling tired..." Lily excused. "Really-"
"Well..." Lola reached for a compromise. "Can you at least close your eyes?"
Lily lightly let out a giggle. "Yeah, that seems fair."
"Thank you," Lola accepted, yawning. "Oh, no-"
"Sounds like you're worn out as I am," Lily mocked in friendly manners. "Why don't you get some sleep for a change?"
"No, I can't-"
"Big sis," Lily soothed with her lovely voice, "I rely on you, have been for awhile, not the other way around. I'll stand guard-"
Lola could feel herself giving in to slumber. "Dang it- No-"
"Yes!" Lily gave Lola incentive, pushing her down to her side. "After we get away, and eat, I'll get my rest, pinky promise!"
Lola admired the young Loud's persistence, laughing and raising her hand out. "Pinky promise that you'll wake me up when it looks like an emergency, alright?"
"Yes, I understand!" Lily accepted, taking on the responsibility. "I won't let you doen, Lola! I'll make you proud!"
"I'll make you proud!" The words echoed through one ear, exiting out the other one, but Lola heard it well and clearly. The promise of an innocent angel truly deserving of a better life, not this garbage that she received. It could have been possible, but that was the catch; Lola and Lana had to give Lily up for her own good, and that was the one and only way Lily would be put out of the crosshairs. The only way...
...Was to let Lily go.
"I can't- I could never do that-" Lola sat on the porch of her late aunt's place, accompanied by Lana and Lily. "I know it's- It sounds like the easiest way for the three of us, but I can't-"
Lana stretched out a hand and comforted Lola. "Sis, it's fine, I couldn't ever do that, either."
"On the plus side," Lily added, "I get to choose if I want to stay around you or leave for my own safety. Guess what? I don't want to separate from you, I love you both too much and you're all I've got, you know this."
"Yeah, f-family should mean more than I define it..." Lola sighed. "Sorry, what on earth was I thinking?"
"No, don't beat yourself up," Lily beckoned. "I know you're just looking out for me, I appreciate it but there is just no way I'm going to break away from you. My mind is made up."
"Fair enough," Lola let go, "I won't bring this up again."
"Thank you..." Lily kissed her sisters' cheeks before standing up and walking back inside. "You guys want lemonade?"
"Uh, pass," Lola declined.
"I'll take one!" Lana waved, letting Lily know to bring one for the older girl. "Thanks."
"Lana-" Lola hoped that Lana hadn't solely become disappointed in her, or hadn't the intention to berate her. "I'm worried that we'll be leading her to harm. Please, and I mean please tell me you understand the harm in dragging her along."
Lana stayed in silent mode.
"If anything ever happened to Lily, I'd never forgive myself, Lans. I could never forgive myself."
"I know..." Lana nodded, understanding where Lola was speaking from. "It puts her at danger, I know that, but... We can do it, Lola. We've come this far with her, we can-"
A ripping sound of a gun going off echoed through and right out the house, sending the twins into a state of panic. They got off of their cute posteriors and investigated with a hidden amount of bravery that elevated for show. "LILY!"
In the center of the kitchen, right by the fridge, Lily was presently on her stomach, facing downwards while a gaping hole in her stomach, having punctured through the back. Blood surrounded her slowly, sending shivers down Lana's neck. Lola leaped forward and flipped Lily back over, cradling the girl in her arms. "OH, MY GOD- L-LILY?! LILY, HEY-"
The face- Her gorgeous, white face read utter horror in all the right angles. Her eyes, wide as she made them, her mouth agape, trickling blood from both corners from her mouth, the sign that she choked on her own blood, and the lack of life Lola tried to detect. Nothing from Lily. No signs of life. Lily was...-
Lola woke up horribly from that nightmare, shaken up by Lana. "No! No, Lily- Please-"
"Lola!" Lana pulled her twin up in her arms and slapped her with medium force. "Snap out of it, you're dreaming!"
Lola scanned her surroundings, connecting her eyes with Lana's, and then Lily's- "LILY!"
Lana could only watch Lola escape her grip and to crawling away from her to Lily's arms. Lily hugged the older sister back, caressing and comforting her after this nightmare, however awful it might have been. "Lily, p-please don't leave- I don't want you to go!"
The scene before Lana tugged at her heartstrings, devastating her young heart further than earlier. Lola truly missed Lily in the time they were separated. A long pair of years that took its toll breaking down Lola's mind, proven here, a fact that only became more cemented as it was by Lana, and only Lana. The hardest truth that the tomboy, with a love for fixing things and the nice touch of tools, had to accept and come; Lily was never truly here.
Lola hugged nothing but thin air, too entranced in her own mental machinations of Lily, the sister who was killed along with Aunt Rinn on the night Alliance Association forces came to take the three sisters away. Killed while trying to hold one of the men back, trying to give the twins time to escape.
Lily died for nothing, in the end, but she didn't pass away alone. Lana still remembered how tightly, how desperate Lola was cradling the corpse, begging for her return before they were pulled away from the house forever. It hurt her so much to know, to see how broken Lola was inside.
A mind...
Shattered.