Memories of the Past, Chapter IX
He wears my face!
The lack of sunlight had turned the original Lincoln Loud into a paler, bony imitation, a true shell of his former self, contained and confined to a rusting steel room of an old steel mill, tended to on a biweekly schedule made by the replacement Lincoln- you knew the one, the very same one who arrived from Timeline X and remained right here in this alternate world. By theoretical logic, he should have been erased along with Timeline X's existence being reversed, but that had never come to be. Lo and behold, an AU Lincoln Loud walking around and replacing the original counterpart and never repeating the same mistakes, promptly becoming a more prepared version of this character, but it was always up for debate.
He has my voice!
That new Lincoln, perceived as perfect doppelganger of an identity thief he'd learned about in the days behind him, was just too stupid to have picked his life to steal considering the fake took on the role of a wanted criminal. Man had a death wish or something but it seemed whoever he really was didn't care. But that was the question he kept coming back to; was this man really just an accurate lookalike or the real thing?
He knows what I've wanted to do!
Right down to the details of his life and the thoughts he had himself, the fake Lincoln was a hundred percent mass of lean, muscly perfection, only staying like that while he grew weaker, amounting to a bag of bones. Never before had he come to know a worse hell than wasting away enough years with the Freights, with Lori becoming... Well, that cold thing that did not love him back. That demoness who turned her back on him and wound up choosing them over him.
Bingo, that's the one true reason he had a personal vendetta against them, guised under the logical reasoning of despising that they dished out hell on whoever they could. You bet they had so many victims- those that were killed, those that the dead left behind, and those who let the fear slither inside their minds, to drive them terrified and sometimes paranoid, even. They were but monsters who spoke, looked and acted like man, such who didn't believe they could be. They, in the end, left to be untouched by him, set to continue their evil ways... That included Lori, running with them until some lucky FBI agent got off a lucky shot or something. That's all that she'd live to become, just another corpse laid out flat on a steel table. The attached forensics unit would identify her and inform those back in Royal Woods, the end. Not the ideal way to learn one of your own had passed away, after years of having gone missing with no clue or lead whatsoever.
He's taken everything from me! No, this... I cannot allow this, not when I need to change-
All that time waiting here, aging, starving until the next feeding period, and already used to the funky smell of his leavings close by- he simply had enough and had been already trying to find a way out of here. It wasn't going to be easy, or right away, but eventually the fake would make a grand error to Lincoln's benefit.
As the time went on, the mission had begun to change; the way her understood it was that his planned future was not meant to happen, despite all that time and effort wasted away with Clyde McBride helping him set up a life away from it all. Maybe fixing the Freight problem was not up to him to set right after all. This had been what he had seen time and time again- the ugliness life could show to him, and how gravely it had, to no end, with no limit. It wasn't just meant for him to right a wrong, if he had been told no in the most insulting way possible. Then...
No! Then who's gonna-?!
The greatest evil he knew, still breathing and walking as its very name continued to wreak havoc and instill fear into the faint of hearts.
How dare you... Just what are you really planning? You aren't going to kill me, or you would have done that already...
Nothing made sense. Then again, when did it? Had he truly seen it before when he grew up, or was everything a lie?
Why do you still keep me a prisoner? It's like... You want to keep at it, you want to know I'm still-
He wanted to scream and yell and try to attack him, but the fake was stronger than him, and not at normal levels. Of course! That copycat had gone through the Vial Corp phase of the master plan and ascended to... Wait, what the hell had this fake become-
Are you a shapeshifter?! And, were you always stronger than me?! God, you just wait until I get my fucking hands on you... And I will do it, I will get you, fraudulent fuck.
His stomach growled.
At least get me a cheeseburger next time...
Anyone would ask just why I keep him alive, and the answer is simple yet makes a hard equation here. It's a carefully calculated risk for me, but...
Lincoln let his head hit against the door. With a hand pressed on it, feeling the cold before it warmed up, he ran through the scenario once more. It went like this; leave the Freights be someone else's problems and prepare for the upcoming fight against Peter McMahon and that which he controlled. He'd have allies, so no need to go acquiring them. Next, with the advantageous knowledge he knew already, he'd know where to strike. All these threats that were taken out would put him and company in the spotlight, pardoned personally by the current president. A life where Lincoln Loud could walk free without feeling crosshairs target him wherever he went. Not him, but the real Lincoln to be released in his place. The ultimate gift he could ever give. This one was younger and had much to go through, and would with the family that had lost him before.
I'll never be too far away once I let you free. I will be watching you live a better life, and once I'm certain you can take it from here-
He didn't need to finish his dark thought, for it was there already, repeated until he had become mentally weary of thinking about it.
I'll be free of it all, by my own hand. I do this so that I can be with you... Chloe.