In school, Lincoln was still a little shaken from the whole Crimson thing, and couldn't get the image of Millie being brutally tortured with a hot iron out of his head.

But he remembered what Loona said before about her and Tex being tougher than the toughest nails at Home Depot.

Miss Dimartino was the substitute teacher again and she handed everyone their French tests that they took. "Well class," she announced. "Congratulations! Most of you managed to pass the test. All except for Chandler." Lincoln rolled his eyes at that name and looked over at the lazy, stuck-up child in the left corner of the classroom, slouching on his desk. "I'm afraid you get an F for not even trying hard enough."

"What? It's not my fault French is a stupid language."

Dimartino gave him and angry stare and placed one hand in front of his desk, startling him. "I will not have that said in my class again, young man. I can easily call your parents about your bad attitude."

Still looking frightened and surprised by this, Chandler made a gulp and said: "yes ma'am" in a meek voice.

Lincoln himself looked a little surprised by that, but remembered how dangerous nice people can be if provoked. Then Dimartino approached Lincoln with a confident and sweet smile on her face. "Lincoln, congratulations!" She sang beautifully. "You get an A plus."

Smiling in excitement, Lincoln looked proud at his test results and hugged it tightly to his chest. "Merci." He remarked to her.

"De rien." The beautiful Latina woman chuckled. "You must have worked so hard on this."

"I did. But I did have a friend help me with this since I was sick on the day of the test." Lincoln modestly stated.

"Well I am proud of you for doing so well in this test. And you know? I think I might as well do this." She bent down and gave him a tender kiss on his forehead in affection.

Lincoln's class went "oooh" teasingly, except Chandler (for obvious reasons).

"Of course, most of you did a very good job on this test. I am so proud of you all."


At home, Lincoln was happy to have received his test and even kissed the paper he received with his good grade. Watermelon, his new parakeet flew in and perched on his shoulder comfortably, happy to see his new owner.

"Hi Watermelon." Lincoln said. "Did you miss me?" The bird let out a few happy chirps in reply.

"Lincoln!" Said Luna, running up to her little brother. "I heard some scummy mob boss tried to kill you. Are you alright, dude?"

Nodding his head a yes, Lincoln replied: "I'm fine Luna. I'm more concerned about Tex and Millie."

"What happened to them?" Asked the rocker sister

Poor Lincoln didn't feel like talking about it since he couldn't get Millie brutally tortured out of his head or her screaming and wailing out of his mind either. Alas, he sat on the couch, and Luna sat with him. The boy told her about what had happened between him and Crimson, Moxxie's fucking bastard of a father.

The more he explained yesterday's situation, the more shocked and horrified Luna was to hear about it. "Aw, dude," said Luna. "That's fucking scary. Did that dirtbag hurt you?"

"Not so much. Just two slaps to the face." Lincoln admitted. "But my cheeks don't hurt so much."

"And what about Tex and Millie?" The rocker girl added

"Millie is going to be in the hospital for at least a week or two, or even three weeks after being tortured so much. Tex is very strong and Loona said that he suffered worse pain before."

"Like what, man?" Asked Luna curiously.

"Ah, Loona didn't say. But I think maybe it has to do with his left eye lost. By the look of that scar, it looked like it was very painful." Lincoln speculated. "But I'm fine. Although..."

"Yeah Linc?"

"Maybe I should just stay out of Hell considering that I was taken a hostage back there." Lincoln thought. "I mean, there could be even more dangerous demons out for my blood. Maybe even worse than Crimson.

"I can't really blame ya if you want that, little bro." Luna gently patted his back three times. "If I was a hostage like that, I would just stay the Hell out of Hell." Then she realized something and slapped her right knee with a laugh. "Get it?"

"Heh I see what you did there." Lincoln smirked. "Better than Luan saying it. But how did you know about what happened yesterday?"

"Duh? Loona told me." Said Luna. "She said you and her had a crazy ride yesterday. Like going off the rails in a crazy train."

"that would be more of an understatement." Said Lincoln. "But we have been in crazy situations before."

"Yeah but not scummy mafias and mob bosses crazy. And to think it would be Moxxie's dad."

"He hates to talk about it so much that even thinking about it makes him cry." Lincoln pointed.

Luna gave a sympathetic face with a frown. "Yeah, I mean it would be quite shitty dad that cares more about money than his own kids."

"But Moxxie's mom saved us and he's already making up lost time with her after all these years."

"ooh. A twist." Luna sounded interested and intrigued.

Watermelon gave Lincoln a few licks on his face to try and cheer him up from all the ducking disasters he faced yesterday. After all, animals can bring out the good in most people in the world.

"What's this about mobs?" Asked Lana, coming in with Hops, her pet frog.

"It's a really long story." Said Lincoln. "But I don't know if I ever want to go back to Hell anymore. "I mean, I almost got killed by a mob boss that is actually one of my friends' father."

Lana looked equally surprised as Luna was. "What?" She said.

"Yeah. It was pretty crazy but he didn't hurt me too much."" Lincoln pointed. "Maybe I should just stay out of there before I get hurt."

"Probably a good idea." Said Lana. "I can imagine how scary it would be to be hostage by an evil mob boss."

"Oh come on." Said a beautiful, sultry voice. It was Verosika and her sister coming in the living in their demon forms. "Where's the fun in that."

"Haven't you dudes ever heard of knocking?" Asked Luna.

"I'm famous, and I can do whatever the fuck I want." said Katie.

"So can I." Verosika added. To Lincoln, and having a worried expression on her face, she asked: "are you ok, honey? Tex told me about what happened yesterday and... sweet Satan."

"I'm ok." Lincoln said. "Just a little shaken after all that."

"You poor baby." Katie said in sympathy, and giving Lincoln a caring hug. "I am so very sorry you had to endure all that."

"So am I." Said Verosika.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you guys, but what are you doing here? I mean, Tex probably told you about what happened, but still."

"Just thought I would invite you to have more fun in my hot tub, Linky." Verosika said. "Something to help clear your head from all of that crazy shit."

"I don't know if I ever wanna go down their again. There could be even more dangerous demons out for my blood."

Verosika frowned and said: "it's ok, Lincoln. There's nothing to worry about... much. You got Loona, me, Kat, your friends, and even... Blitzo." She said the last name in a very bitter way since he was a shitty boyfriend to her. "Even if Loona is not around, you got me." She hugged him tightly like a mother would do for her son. "I promise. You will never feel threatened with me around

"or with me." Katie added as she hugged Lincoln like a mother as well. "You can count on us to make sure you're safe too."

"Thanks guys." said Lincoln. "But I need to clear my head from all this. I wanna try and move my head after all the crazy stuff that Crimson had done to me and my friends yesterday."

"Aww, but I wanna hang out with you." Said Verosika, sounding bummed.

"come on sis," said Katie. "This is his life, so just cut him some slack."

"No, you're right, Katie." Verosika crossed her arms. "I mean, he's still just a kid, and I want him to be happy." She gave the kid a warm smile.

"Me too." Katie agreed. "So if you ever wanna come back to Hell, let us know, Lincoln."

"I will." Lincoln smiled.

Verosika gave him a kiss on the forehead to show how much she cared about him, and Katie did the same, making it three girls that kissed him like that in a row today.

"You get all the ladies, eh dude?" Luna teased.

"Oh very funny." said Lincoln with a smirk and rolling his eyes.

later

Lincoln was with Watermelon again as he was watching TV. "Hey Lincoln." a voice startled him. It was Loona in her normal hellhound form. "Didn't mean to startle you."

"No, don't worry about it." said Lincoln. "I'm so used to Lucy doing that, except she does it out of nowhere." Loona sat down next to him.

"So how's Millie?"

"Still banged up in the hospital, but Moxxie is keeping an eye on him." Loona replied flatly. "Tex is slowly starting to walk without crutches.

"Good." Lincoln said.

"I just came by to check up on you after what happened yesterday." Loona flatly said before looking a little guilty. "Are you ok, Lincoln?"

"Uh-huh. Thanks to you guys. And Moxxie's mom. I wouldn't still be alive if it weren't for her."

"Yeah, that was unexpected as fuck." Loona nodded. "But hey, we got our asses saved by her. Right?"

"So true." Lincoln rolled his eyes. It was silent in the room and then the kid broke the silence. "Look, Loona, I'm a little scared about going back to Hell, even if you are with me."

The female hellhound frowned. "Come on, so we got jumped by some scummy mafia shitheads with no one to fuck but themselves."

It was just then Lynn Sr and Rita came in the door form shopping and had Lily with them. They both gasped as they heard Loona's cussing and Rita angrily clasped Lily's ears.

"Seriously?" Rita said. "Right in front of the baby?"

"What?"

"Look, we know you're from Hell, Loona, but you still gotta show some decency around here." Said Lynn Sr.

"Yeah yeah. I know. I'm sorry." Loona sang flatly. "I didn't see you come in through the door."

"Ok, just please watch your language in here, Loona." Rita said

"We mean it." Lynn Sr added in a firm voice.

"Ok, ok." Loona sang.

As the parents went into the kitchen to fetch their baby a snack, Lincoln said: "look, what if I get jumped by someone even more dangerous than those guys?"

"Like I mentioned before: Hell is not so different than many parts of Earth. Just look at the Russian mob or Sicilian mob for example."

"True."

"You will be fine. Just try to trust me on this."

Lincoln was silent again and finally, after thinking about it for ten seconds, he said: "ok. I'll take your word for it."

Loona smiled. "Good. I'll keep you safe and close to me down there." She side-hugged him, which was a little unlike of her. Yet again, she did keep her soft spot in private and no one else was watching this precious moment. "Just don't tell Blitzo I am doing this. Or anyone else."

"I won't." Lincoln smiled.